Mumbai: The Thane crime branch arrested the accountant of the kingpin in the Money Trade Coins (MTC) cryptocurrency fraud case on Tuesday. The accused was the right-hand man of the main accused, Amit Lakhanpal, who is likely to be holed up in Dubai after the Rs 500-crore fraud came to light. The accountant, Sachin Shelar, was detained after marathon questioning and placed under arrest.
The police said that Shelar, one of the main accused in the case, was in the loop as he had attended meetings and made note of transactions in the books.
“Shelar maintained the books of Flintstone Group, which had unveiled MTC in a lavish ceremony in Dubai. We are gathering details of the money flow and are in the process of deciphering the entries in the account books," said Nitin Thakare, senior inspector of unit I of the Thane crime branch.
The officials said that the preliminary questioning has revealed that the accused had no information on the money trail and possible laundering. Crime branch officials have stated that the money made its way to Dubai with Lakhanpal. The Flintstone Group allegedly duped at least 25,000 investors to the tune of over Rs 500 crore as per current estimates, officials said.
The crime branch had earlier arrested Tahir Kazi, the Mumbra-based IT expert who made the blockchain technology for Lakhanpal's MTC. The cryptocurrency was launched in September 2017 in a grand ceremony that was also attended by the royal family.
On the lines of an IPO (initial public offering), Lakhanpal had rolled out 'Initial Coin Offer' with the option of redeemable cryptocurrency. The ICO was for USD 3 and he had promised that the money would rise to USD 2,500. Pal had increased the rates to USD 6,000 at a point, officials said. However, he had held on the rights so that nobody could profit by selling their MTCs.
The police said that the accused had floated 13 companies and also had plans to float an MTC debit card for his investors, which could be used to make purchases on online commercial portals.
