Indian authorities have raided the home of Gaurav Mehta, an audit company employee.

The Central Bureau of Investigation has also issued a summons for Mehta.

Indian authorities have been investigating Gain Bitcoin for years. Mehta’s name is reported to have come up in

purported tapes of Maharashtra political leaders discussing the encashment of the cryptocurrency worth crores.

It’s unclear what cryptocurrency was being discussed but the implication is it is tied to Gain Bitcoin.

The recordings implicate local politicians in wanting to cash out seized bitcoin “to influence the elections”.

Mehta’s name was also mentioned by former IPS officer Ravindranath Patil who was arrested in a 2018 cryptocurrency “fraud” case being probed by the Pune Police.

Patil claimed Mehta shared with him on the Signal app as many as 10 voice notes purportedly of Sule, Patole, and IPS officers Amitabh Gupta (ex-Pune Police commissioner) and Bhagyashree Navtake who was the DCP (cyber) in Pune when he was arrested.

The politicians allegedly involved have denied any allegations.

Officials said all aspects related to the alleged involvement of Mehta in the scam are being looked into and the CBI may expand the scope of its investigation.

Gain Bitcoin was an MLM crypto Ponzi that collapsed in 2017.

The scam was run by Amit Bhardwaj (right) and several family members. Amit himself is reported to have died of cardiac arrest in 2022.

Investigations into Gain Bitcoin began in 2018. Since then;

  • 451.999 BTC was seized in December 2018
  • two investigators were caught stealing seized Gain Bitcoin funds in March 2022
  • six locations, including properties tied to Amit Bhardwaj’s family, were raided in June 2022
  • Simpy Bhardwaj, the wife of Ajay Bhardwaj (Amit’s brother), was arrested in December 2023

While there has been progress in the Gain Bitcoin case(s), we’re still ultimately almost seven years in with no end in sight.