Mumbai: In a detailed order taking cognizance of a supplementary prosecution complaint naming businessman Ripu Sudan Kundra, alias Raj Kundra, as a key accused in a high-profile cryptocurrency money laundering case, a special court found sufficient prima facie evidence to proceed against co-accused Rajesh Satija and him for the alleged offences under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA). While the court took cognisance of the chargesheet on Monday, a detailed order was made available on Tuesday. The court issued summons to Kundra and Satija to appear before it on Jan 19, 2026. “The ED has made out a prima-facie case to take cognizance and to proceed against accused Nos 17 and 18 (Kundra and Satija) for the offence under section 3….the PMLA and to issue process against them,” the judge said.The Enforcement Directorate’s (ED) money laundering case originated from multiple FIRs registered by the Maharashtra and Delhi Police against Variable Tech Private Limited and several individuals, including now deceased Amit Bhardwaj. The ED alleged that the promoters collected vast sums in Bitcoins from the public by promising a 10 percent monthly return. Instead of using these funds for Bitcoin mining as promised, the promoters reportedly cheated investors and concealed the assets in obscure online wallets.According to the investigation, Kundra allegedly received 285 Bitcoins from the mastermind, Amit Bhardwaj, for the purpose of establishing a mining farm in Ukraine. The agency claims these Bitcoins were derived from the proceeds of crime. As the deal never materialized, the agency claimed that Kundra remained in possession of these assets, which were valued at more than Rs 150 crore.The ED submitted that Kundra has not only received the proceeds of crime from the criminal activities, but in order to layer the transactions so as to give colour of genuine transaction, he has done sale transaction with his wife, actor Shilpa Shetty, at a rate which is far below market rate to disguise the origin of such funds. According to ED, Kundra has “knowingly acquired, possessed, transferred, layered and used the proceeds of crime obtained and derived by commission of scheduled offence in such a manner as if it was untainted money, and therefore guilty of the offence of money laundering as per section Section 3 of PMLA.” It was further submitted that Satija received a total of Rs 55 crore from accused Amit Bhardwaj.
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