A special investigation team (SIT) of the Himachal Pradesh Police, probing the Rs 1,740-crore cryptocurrency scam, has unearthed five shell companies created by fugitive kingpin Subhash Sharma.
The companies formed by Subhash Sharma, who is believed to have escaped to Dubai in May this year, include Soymans India Pvt Ltd, UBB Associates LLP, UBB Records LLP, Subro Technologies Pvt Ltd, and Him Jan Sewa Foundation.
The firms are registered with the Registrar of Companies (ROC) in Chandigarh, Delhi, and Himachal Pradesh. While Soymans India Pvt Ltd, based in Zirakpur, Mohali, dealt with food products; Subro Technologies Pvt Ltd in Sector 20, Panchkula, was involved in creating multimedia websites; UBB Associates in Royal Estate, Zirakpur, focused on construction business; Him Jan Sewa Foundation in Mandi was engaged in social welfare activities; and UBB Records LLP in Juneja Square, Zirakpur, dealt with retail trade and repair of personal and household goods.
These companies, formed between February 2020 and May 2021, had Sharma and other accused as directors.
“The five companies were incorporated between February 2020 and May 2021. Sharma is shown as the director with other accused in all five companies. We have obtained the relevant records of these companies from the offices of Registrar of Companies (ROC) in Chandigarh, Delhi, and Himachal Pradesh. Many cheque books, passbooks, etc related to these five companies were recovered from the registered offices and residences of accused personnel.
Hemraj Thakur, Sukhdev Thakur, Amit Pardeep Singh, and Radhika Sharma, etc were also shown as directors in these companies. They have been arrested. The SIT has found scores of money transactions between the companies between 2020 and 2022,” DIG, Northern Range, Dharamshala, Abhishek Dular, told The Indian Express.
The cryptocurrency scam came to light when Independent MLA Hoshyar Singh raised the issue during the monsoon session of the Himachal Vidhan Sabha in September. Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu later ordered the formation of an SIT led by DIG Dular. Nineteen suspects, including four Himachal Police personnel, have been arrested. Notably, Sukhdev Thakur, who won the ‘Nelson Mandela Nobel Peace Award-2023’, was among those arrested. The investigation revealed that over a thousand police personnel had invested in fake cryptocurrency with some opting for volunteer retirement from service to become full-time investors.
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Approximately 2.5 lakh people fell victim to the promise of “11 per cent returns” on investments in the fraudulent cryptocurrency Korvio Coin (KRO) in 2018 and DGT Coin in 2020. Fraudsters approached people with an investment plan related to the crypto coins for which they had created websites in which the cryptocurrency prices were manipulated and inflated.
A dedicated helpline launched on October 19, 2023 has received 350 complaints with most victims hailing from Kangra, Mandi, Hamirpur, and Una districts.
The state police chief, Sanjay Kundu, had earlier said that they are now targetting the second layer of fraudsters involved in the scam with the arrest of people who earned crores from the investment made into the scheme by new investors.
