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A Supreme Court bench of Justices Chandrachud and Surya Kant today asked  GainBitcoin CEO and an accused in Rs. 2000 crore crypto currency scam Ajay Bharadwaj to reveal the username and password of the crypto wallet of the company to the Enforcement Directorate.

The court was hearing a bail cancellation plea filed by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) against Ajay Bhardwaj in Gain Bitcoin scam. Amit Bhardwaj was arrested in March 2018 and later was granted bail by the Supreme Court on April 3, 2019.

When the matter was called for hearing today the counsel for the petitioner submitted that he has joined the investigation and is duly cooperating. ASG Aishwarya Bhati, appearing for the ED, submitted that that the credentials of the crypto wallet are crucial to the investigation and that they have not yet been revealed to the agency.

Bhati further submitted that “This matter has nothing to do with the legality of crypto currency. It is to be noted that on the last date of hearing, the court had asked the government to take a clear stand  on legality of bitcoins in India. Bhati further submitted that more investigation has to be done in the matter.

The court on hearing the parties expressed its intention to take stock of all the matters pertaining to the complaint against Bharadwaj and directed Shoeb Alam, advocate to furnish a list of the same. The court further directed Bharadwaj to reveal the credentials of the wallet to the ED.

The matter has accordingly been adjourned.

While presenting the Budget 2022, the finance minister, Nirmala Sitharaman had said that the government has only taxed the profits emanating from cryptocurrency transactions and not done anything to legalise or ban or regulate it. Recently, the Supreme Court observed that “money laundering is a crime worse than murder, akin to terrorism as it destabilises the Nation’s financial system”. 

Case Title: Ajay Bhardwaj vs Union of India