Accomplice of crypto scam kingpin arrested in Kolkata

Navneet Rathore

Shimla, July 18

Milan Garg, one of the main accomplices of the mastermind of more than Rs 2,500 crore cryptocurrency scam in which more than one lakh investors from Himachal Pradesh were duped, has been arrested from Kolkata, the police said here today.

Rs 2,500 cr Fraud surfaced in 2022

• The cryptocurrency scam is worth Rs 2,500 crore and more than one lakh investors have been duped
• Till now, 25 accused have been arrested in the scam, which was unearthed in 2022
• Milan Garg (35), who hails from Meerut, was apprehended from the Kolkata airport while trying to flee to Bangkok
• Garg was the person behind designing, operating fake cryptocurrency coins, websites as well as their networking

Garg (35), who hails from Meerut, Uttar Pradesh, was apprehended from Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose International Airport, Kolkata, while trying to flee to Bangkok, Thailand. He was handed over to the Himachal Pradesh police and was brought to Shimla.

According to police, Garg was the person behind designing, operating fake cryptocurrency coins and websites as well as their networking. He had designed Korvio Coin, DGT coin, Fish Token, BTPP Token which were used to lure unsuspecting investors on the pretext of making exorbitant returns.

After the scam was unearthed in 2022, Garg fled to Dubai. However, he returned to India in June from either Bangladesh or Nepal and was again planning to flee but was apprehended at the Kolkata airport. A lookout notice was issued against him.

DIG, Northern Range, Abhishek Dular, who heads the 13-member Special Investigation Team (SIT) to probe the scam, said that the accused was brought back to Shimla and was today presented in the Sessions Court, which sent him to police custody for the next two days. He said that further investigation in the case was underway.

The scam began in the year 2018 when scammers used Ponzi cryptocurrency schemes to lure the investors by promising them exorbitant returns on their invested capital in a short span of time. They used to approach the investors who included government employees and police personnel with an investment plan based on a locally developed crypto coin. The scammers also used to manipulate crypto coin prices. However, the investors got suspicious later on when they stopped receiving money. They were threatened to either keep quiet or else lose their money.

In 2023, during the monsoon session of the Assembly, the then Independent MLA from Dehra Hoshiyar Singh had highlighted the matter. Singh had expressed concern over the scam after which Deputy Chief Minister Mukesh Agnihotri ordered an SIT to investigate the matter.

Till now, as many as 25 accused have been arrested in connection with the scam while four chargesheets against 70 persons have been filed. Property worth crores has been seized. However, Subhash Sharma, a resident of Sarkaghat in Mandi district, who is kingpin of the scam, still remains fugitive and is said to be hiding in the United Arab Emirates.