Mumbai, Nov 29, 2024, IANS

Mumbai, Nov 29 (IANS) The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Friday swooped on the homes and offices of businessman Raj Kundra and others in Mumbai and Uttar Pradesh, in connection with ongoing investigations into the bitcoin scam case, official sources said here. Among those raided include Ripu Sudan Kundra alias Raj Kundra - the husband of Bollywood actress Shilpa Shetty - and a few of his associates, with the ED teams searching some 15 locations in the two states. The latest action is purportedly linked to a money-laundering probe arising out of the bitcoin scam in which Kundra and others had allegedly collected around Rs 6,600 crore in 2017 from the public with tall promises of a 10 per cent/month return in the form of Crypto assets. In April 2024, the ED had raided and attached multiple assets of Kundra and Shetty worth Rs 97 crore, under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA). Following multiple complaints and FIRs registered in Maharashtra and Delhi in 2019 and later in 2024, the central probe agency had launched the investigations against Kundra and his other associates. The attachment orders included Kundra's flat in the tony Juhu suburb, a bungalow in the Lonavala hill station (Pune district), and various kinds of investments in stocks plus other assets – which the couple had challenged in the Bombay High Court last month. Almost five years ago, the controversial Kundra was earlier accused of the production, distribution and uploading of pornographic content through certain mobile Apps, with some international strands. The Mumbai Police, which laid bare the sensational scam in 2021, had nabbed Kundra and other c-o-accused. He was jailed in July 2021 and granted bail in September that year.