Actress Shilpa Shetty’s husband, Raj Kundra, was on February 20 granted bail by a special court handling money laundering cases, in a 2018 crime case concerning Bitcoins worth over Rs. 150 crore. The court summoned Kundra to court under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).
The Enforcement Directorate’s case is that Kundra allegedly received 285 Bitcoins in July 2017. The ED valued them at $1 million (Rs. 6.60 crore) at the time. However, the ED “arbitrarily” valued each Bitcoin as on April 16, 2024 at approximately Rs. 52 lakh, and on that basis arrived at a figure of around Rs. 150 crore.
It was argued on behalf of Raj Kundra that the relevant date for valuation could only be the date on which the alleged proceeds were generated i.e. July 2017, and not an arbitrary future date chosen to suit the prosecution.