VIKAAS KADIAN Vs. STATE OF U.T., CHANDIGARH

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The petitioner has approached this Court seeking grant of anticipatory bail in a case registered against him vide FIR No. 124 dated 24.4.2018 under Sections 420/406/120-B IPC and Section 66 of Information Technology Act, 2000 at Police Station Sector-17, Chandigarh.

(2.) The FIR was registered at the instance of Amardeep Singh wherein it has been alleged that the accused namely Amit Bhardwaj, Ajay Bhardwaj, Ashish Dabas, Pankaj Adlakha, Rupesh Kumar Singh and Vikaas Kadian connived with each other to dupe the complainant and made him part with his hard earned money running into lacs by pursuading him to invest him in a Multi-Level Marketing (MLM) ponzi scheme Gainbitcoin, marketed by M/s Variable Tech, Singapore founded by Amit Bhardwaj. It is alleged that the complainant and other similarly situated persons were promised a lucrative return of 10 percent per month continuously for a period of 18 months on their investments made in said 'bitcoins' (crypto currency). The accused had assured the complainant that their company was an authorized miners of Bitcoins in India, having pan-India operations and that the entire business was legal. Thus, the complainant was induced to believe by the petitioner Vikaas Kadian and other accused that his investment would yield 180 per cent profit within 18 months from the date of investment. It is alleged that the accused Amit Bhardwaj gained the confidence of the complainant while representing that his companies were constantly doing Bitcoin mining and that he was CEO of M/s Amaze Mining and Block Chain Research Limited and GB Miners and had a majority stake in Mineral Mining Company in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). The accused further claimed to be India's first Bitcoin e-wallet called 'Coinbank'. Upon such assurances and representations made by accused including the petitioner, the complainant registered himself on the website of the accused through www.gainbitcoin.com and the complainants Amardeep Singh and Manoj Garg invested an amount of Rs. 30 lacs and Rs. 15.5. lacs for purchase of Bitcoins. However, the complainant did not receive any single Bitcoin (BTC) in return for their investment. It is further alleged that subsequently, the accued induced the complainant to invest in another crypto currency called M-CAP, which was in the nature of a mutual fund for crypto currencies, which according to the accused was likely to gain more popularity than Bitcoins and give much higher yields and financial gains. It is alleged that the accused then changed the contract conditions and further made the complainant invest further in one 'Lifelong Etherium Mining Contract' for at least 24 months, which was stated to get maximum returns but even the said promise did not materalize. The complainant, thus, alleged that he had been duped of huge amount by the accused.

(3.) The learned counsel for the petitioner has submitted that he has falsely been implicated in the present case and that even a bare perusal of the FIR would show that it is Amit Bhardwaj who is the principal accused and that the petitioner is not stated to have been entrusted with any amount. It has further been submitted that since a co-accused namely Sanchit Allagh has already been granted bail vide order dated 17.9.2018 passed in CRM-M39721 of 2018, the petitioner also deserves the concession of bail on ground of parity.