Shilpa Shetty’s husband, Raj Kundra, sold his Juhu (Bombay) flat of Rs. 80 crore to the actress for Rs. 38 crore in 2022 after the Enforcement Directorate initiated a probe against him in a money laundering case. The ED suspects, it was an internal arrangement of the couple to avoid the property’s attachment and it believes that Kundra is still the flat’s real owner.
On April 18, the ED issued a press release stating that Raj Kundra received 285 bitcoins from the mastermind and promoter of the Gain Bitcoin ponzi scam, Amit Bhardwaj (since deceased), for setting up a bitcoin mining farm in Ukraine. According to the agency, “The said bitcoins were sourced from the proceeds of crime collected by Bhardwaj from gullible investors. Since the deal didn’t materialise, Kundra is still in possession and enjoyment of 285 bitcoins, which are presently valued at more than Rs. 150 crore.”
The ED attached Kundra and Shilpa’s properties, the value of which is equivalent to that of the bitcoins, as it believes that the bitcoins are still in Kundra’s possession but he is not disclosing them. The properties attached are his bungalow in Pune, equity shares in his name, and Shilpa Shetty’s Juhu flat. The property is collectively valued at Rs. 97.79 crore.
The advocate of Kundra and Shilpa said that Raj Kundra had not received a single bitcoin, as alleged by the ED. Earlier, Kundra had told the ED in his statement that he had provided consultancy services to Bhardwaj for bitcoin mining. He had said that the Bhardwaj brothers — Amit and Ajay — through his bitcoin wallet had transferred the cryptocurrency into another wallet and that he didn’t know the recipient.
The Pune-based Bhardwaj brothers promoted Variabletech Pte. Ltd., a Singapore-based company, and controlled gainbitcoin.com and lured investors by promising good returns. Through gainbitcoin.com, the brothers collected cryptocurrency equivalent to Rs. 6,600 crore from investors, defaulted on the payment and concealed the ill-gotten bitcoins in obscure online wallets. The investors filed police cases against the Bhardwajs at various places a few years ago, based on which the ED registered the money laundering case.