PUNE: The provisions of the Maharashtra Protection of Interest of Depositors Act against former IPS officer Ravindra Patil and cyber expert Pankaj Ghode for allegedly cheating the “investigators” of the cryptocurrency frauds were revoked on Saturday, while the duo’s police custody remand was extended in the evening till March 25.
Judicial magistrate (first class) Shraddha Dolare extended the police custody of Patil and Ghode after they were produced before the court. Earlier in the day, special sessions judge S S Gosavi absolved the duo of the charges under the Maharashtra Protection of Interest of Depositors (MPID) Act the Pune cyber police had invoked against them for cheating the investigators of the cryptocurrency frauds.
Advocates Rohan Nahar and Ameya Dange, representing the duo, took objection to MPID Act invoked against them. The defence said Patil and Ghode only helped the police in investigating the case. The lawyers claimed that police officers had stolen cryptocurrencies from the suspects’ e-wallet. The cryptocurrencies recovered from the accused persons in the Dattawadi and Nigdi police station cases were transferred to the e-wallet of the police and screenshots of those transactions were given to the police as proof.
The prosecution claimed that the analysis of blockchain revealed that while transferring the cryptocurrencies to the police’s e-wallet, Patil and Ghode transferred some virtual currencies to their e-wallets instead of diverting them to the police’s e-wallet. But the judge revoked the provisions of the MPID Act against the duo.
Patil and Ghode were roped in to assist the Pune police in cracking the cryptocurrency cases in which many people were allegedly cheated by Amit Bharadwaj and others. Two cases were filed against Bharadwaj and his accomplices at Dattawadi and Nigdi police stations in 2018.
According to the police, Patil transferred some of the cryptocurrencies in his account and Ghode provided screenshots of the accounts to the police by manipulating the figures showing less number of cryptocurrencies in the e-wallet of the arrested people. The cyberpolice started an enquiry to trace the missing cryptocurrencies when the role of the duo came to light.
Cryptocurrency fraud: MPID charges against ex-IPS officer, cyber expert revoked - Times of India
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