COURT REVOKES MPID PROVISIONS AGAINST FORMER IPS OFFICER AND CYBER EXPERT IN BITCOIN FRAUD CASE

Recently, the sessions court of Pune revoked provisions of the Maharashtra Protection of Interest of Depositors Act (MPID) against former IPS officer Ravindranath Patil and Pankaj Ghode (cyber expert), the ‘investigators’ in the cryptocurrency fraud cases. 

The duo was arrested on March 12 for allegedly cheating while investigating the 2018 digital money case. They were remanded in police custody for seven days. 

According to the complaint, Patil and Ghode were appointed to collect evidence and provide technical assistance in the investigation of the bitcoins fraud cases. Ghode and Patil did not display expected professional integrity during the investigation. They misused the data given to them by the police while recovering bitcoins from the wallets and pocketed several bitcoins for their benefit.

Ghode and Patil had been booked for cheating and forgery under the Indian Penal Code and relevant sections of the IT Act, as well as the MPID Act.

During the seven days of interrogation, the cyber police found that the accused had transferred the p-to-p money to a few international bitcoin wallets. It was also revealed that Patil was still using the email IDs of the arrested accused. The police also informed that they had seized assets worth Rs 1.10 crore, which included Ripple, Ethereum, and SHIB from his exchange wallet. 

The police sought an extension of his police custody and Advocates appearing for the accused filed an application seeking revocation of MPID provisions from the case.

The sessions court extended their police custody till March 25 and allowed the application to revoke the provisions of MPID.