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Indian Police Arrest Two More in Ongoing OneCoin CrackDown

Last Updated March 4, 2021 4:56 PM
Samburaj Das
Last Updated March 4, 2021 4:56 PM

Indian police are continuing their investigation of OneCoin, a ‘digital currency’ investment scheme widely seen as a scam.

A month after Indian authorities dealt a heavy blow to OneCoin operators in the country with the arrest of 18 individuals, two more individuals related to OneCoin have now been arrested.

According to The Hindu , the Economics Offence Wing (EOW), an extension of India’s Central Bureau of Intelligence (CBI), India’s primary law enforcement agency, held 28-year old Nayan Patel and Amit Kedia, 32.

Earlier this month, the EOW became involved in the OneCoin investigation, assigning 15 personnel and four officers to form a special investigative team, staffed with investigators experienced in similar cases of fraud.

Patel had absconded, leaving India as Indian authorities scrambled to issue notices airports around India to detain him.

“He had traveled to Hong Kong from Dubai and was nabbed at the Mumbai International Airport while trying to re-enter the country,” a police official revealed.

Last month, Indian undercover police were in attendance at a OneCoin seminar that saw some 500 participants. Potential investors were told that they would be provided with password credentials to check their profiles on OneCoin’s website, after ‘investing’ in the scheme. Payments, they were told, were made toward the purchase of tokens, ultimately redeemed for OneCoins.

After witnessing the entire presentation, police arrested 18 individuals at the event who led them to four bank accounts related to the scheme. One of those bank accounts, in India’s capital of Delhi, held ₹19 crores (approx. $3 million), ultimately seized by authorities.

“The money trail of the one coin scam led us to two accounts named Premium payment solution,” said an official from the EOW team. “One account had ₹19 crore and the other ₹5 crore.”

Two individuals, in particular, Mary Beyance from Mauritius and Ereena Andreva Belkinska from Bulgaria are underlined as the main perpetrators of the OneCoin scheme, right at the top of the food chain.

Altogether, Indian authorities have now made 20 arrests of individuals associated with OneCoin’s operation in the country. The investigation continues.

Featured image from Shutterstock.