Maharashtra polls: BJP charges Supriya Sule with Rs 235 crore crypto fraud

In a press conference, the BJP accused National Congress Party leader Supriya Sule and Congress MLA Nana Patole of allegedly using Bitcoins illegally to fund elections

Hours before voting for the Maharashtra Assembly elections began, the Bharatiya Janata Party levelled shocking allegations against Opposition leader Supriya Sule on Tuesday night, accusing her of a massive Rs 235 crore crypto fraud to fund the elections.

 

In a late-night press conference, the BJP accused National Congress Party leader Sule and Congress MLA Nana Patole of illegally using Bitcoins to fund elections. BJP spokesperson Sudhanshu Trivedi presented three audio clips, which he alleged were evidence of Sule and Patole’s involvement in the ‘scam’.

 

On Wednesday, BJP spokesperson Sambit Patra challenged Rahul and Sonia Gandhi to address the allegations through a press conference.

 

What is the fraud allegation made by the BJP?

Patra alleged that the Opposition leaders were involved in a suspected cryptocurrency fraud, and the money involved had been used in previous elections as well.

 

He claimed that the scam had its roots in 2018, alleging that it amounted to about Rs 235 crore. The saffron party alleged that a cryptocurrency trader named Gaurav Mehta has shared the audio clips of Sule and Patole. Mehta, with an alleged link to this case, is said to have encashed Bitcoins to allegedly help the Opposition leaders influence the electoral process.

 

The BJP said that Mehta decided to go public with his claims as he feared for his life.

#WATCH | Maharashtra: Ex-IPS officer from Pune, who was charge-sheeted by Pune Police in the alleged multi-crore crypto fraud, Ravindranath Patil alleges, "...My company called me as a cryptocurrency expert to investigate a case in 2018. I was arrested in that case in 2022 under… pic.twitter.com/Nql9Sun4Tz

— ANI (@ANI) November 19, 2024

 

The BJP’s allegations followed after former Pune IPS officer Ravindranath Patil, who was an investigating officer in a 2018 crypto fraud case, was arrested for misappropriating a cryptocurrency walletv.  Maharashtra, Jharkhand Election Updates

Former IPS officer Ravindranath Patil’s claims

Speaking to news agency ANI, Patil said: “I was arrested in that case in 2022 under allegations of fraud. A witness against us, Gaurav Mehta, who is an employee of an audit firm named Sarathi Associates, called me multiple times for 4-5 hours a day before yesterday, but I did not respond. Finally, when I responded, he told me that in 2018, when Amit Bharadwaj was arrested, he had a cryptocurrency hardware wallet... That wallet was replaced by the then Commissioner Amitabh Gupta, and another wallet was kept. We were arrested, but the real perpetrators were Amitabh Gupta and his team. He [Gaurav Mehta] took the names of two IPS officers, Amitabh Gupta and Bhagyashri Nautake... This bitcoin money was used for funding in Maharashtra during the Lok Sabha elections...”

 

Referring to the audio clips in question, Patil claimed they belonged to Sule, where she asks Mehta to encash the Bitcoins for election funds. He further added that Mehta wanted to come out of this incident but feared for his life.  Sule has labelled the allegations as baseless and plans to file a defamation case against Trivedi for "making outrightly false allegations with an intent to deceive the public at large."  Business Standard could not independently verify the authencity of the audio clips.