Businessman Raj Kundra was granted bail on Friday by a special PMLA court in Mumbai in connection with the Rs 6,606 crore Bitcoin-linked money laundering case. The relief comes amid ongoing proceedings initiated by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in a matter linked to an alleged cryptocurrency scam.
Following the court’s decision, Kundra briefly addressed the media, saying, “Satyamev Jayate…".
Speaking further after securing bail, he stated, “I always had full faith in the Judiciary system, when I know that I have not done anything wrong, so it’s a relief that Judiciary notices it and gives the relief. So, now I will follow the process."
His counsel, Advocate Prashant Patil, said that the bail was granted after arguments were presented before the court. He stated, “ED had filed a chargesheet against Raj Kundra. According to us, there was no merit in the chargesheet. Today, we had a bail application. Since 2018, Raj Kundra has been appearing before the ED. There was no instance when he did not cooperate with ED. He has been granted bail on a surety amount of Rs one lakh. He has to seek permission from the court before travelling abroad."
Kundra, who is married to actor Shilpa Shetty, appeared before the Sessions Court earlier in the day as part of the proceedings.
The ED had previously filed a supplementary prosecution complaint in the alleged large-scale Bitcoin scam linked to Delhi-based Variabletech Pvt Ltd (VTPL). In the complaint, Kundra and Rajesh Ram Satija were named among the accused. Upon taking cognisance of the case, the special PMLA court observed that there was sufficient material to proceed against accused number 17 (Kundra) and accused number 18 (Satija) under Section 3, punishable under Section 4 of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).
According to the ED, Kundra received 285 bitcoins from accused Amit Bhardwaj. The agency stated that the digital assets were valued at Rs 150.47 crore as of April 16, 2024, calculated at Rs 52,79,755 per bitcoin, and alleged that he continued to retain them. The ED further claimed that Kundra did not disclose the relevant wallet addresses or surrender the bitcoins during the investigation.
The agency also alleged that efforts were made to layer transactions to present them as legitimate, including executing a sale transaction with his wife at a rate significantly below market value in order to conceal the alleged illegal origin of funds. The court had earlier noted that the prosecution complaint and case records prima facie indicated his involvement in money laundering, leading to further proceedings.
The matter remains under judicial consideration as investigations continue.
