The Enforcement Directorate on Thursday said it had attached assets worth Rs 98 crore, including a bungalow in Pune and equity shares, of actress Shilpa Shetty and her husband Raj Kundra under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).

The case relates to alleged duping of investors through the use of cryptocurrency like Bitcoins.

“The ED has attached properties, including a flat in Mumbai’s upscale Juhu area that is currently in the name of Shilpa Shetty, a residential bungalow situated in Pune, and equity shares in Kundra’s name,” an agency official said.

The agency’s action against Kundra is connected to a money-laundering case filed against him based on multiple FIRs registered by Maharashtra police and Delhi police against Variable Tech Pte Ltd, (late) Amit Bhardwaj, Ajay Bhardwaj, Vivek Bhardwaj, Simpy Bhardwaj, Mahender Bhardwaj and several multiple-level marketing agents, sources said.

The FIR alleges that the accused collected funds worth Rs 6,600 crore in 2017 in the form of Bitcoins from people with the false promise of a 10 per cent return per month.

“The collected Bitcoins were supposed to be utilised for Bitcoin mining and the investors were supposed to get huge returns in crypto assets. But the promoters cheated the investors and have been concealing the ill-gotten Bitcoins in obscure online wallets,” a source in the agency said.

The probe has revealed that Kundra received 285 Bitcoins from the alleged mastermind, Gain Bitcoin Ponzi promoter Amit Bhardwaj, to set up a Bitcoin mining farm in Ukraine, agency sources said. Since the deal didn’t materialise, Kundra is still
in possession of 285 Bitcoins, which are presently valued at more than Rs 150 crore,
they added.