The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has arrested accused Ayush Varshney, co-founder and chief technical officer of Darwin Labs Private Limited, in connection with the GainBitcoin cryptocurrency fraud case.

The GainBitcoin Ponzi scheme was floated allegedly by Variabletech Pte. Limited, wherein investors were induced to invest in a fraudulent cryptocurrency scheme on the promise of high returns. The funds so collected were subsequently misappropriated.

The CBI is conducting the investigation pursuant to the Supreme Court order dated December 13, 2023, involving the First Information Reports registered in various parts of the country related to similar allegations linked to the GainBitcoin scheme.

Based on its findings, the agency zeroed in on Darwin Labs Private Limited and its co-founders, including accused Ayush Varshney, Sahil Baghla, and Nikunj Jain (chief capital officer/founder in Vaomi AI), for their alleged role in the design, development and deployment of the crypto token known as MCAP and the corresponding ERC-20 smart contract.

“Darwin Labs Private Limited was instrumental in developing the entire technological infrastructure of the fraudulent scheme, including Bitcoin mining pool platform GBMiners.com, BitCoin Payment Gateway, Coin Bank BitCoin wallet and the Gain BitCoin investor facing website,” said the agency.

As the accused, Mr. Varshney, was absconding, a Look Out Circular was issued against him. On March 9, he was intercepted by the Immigration authorities in Mumbai while he was attempting to leave India. He was subsequently handed over to the CBI, which arrested him the next day.

The enforcement agencies have found that the online platform was launched in 2015 allegedly by a computer science engineering graduate from Maharashtra, Amit Bhardwaj (who died on January 15, 2022) and his associates. It promised 10% monthly return for 18 months on Bitcoin investments.

Initially, monthly payments were made to the investors. However, they were delayed gradually. The operators had then launched their own MCAP token projecting it to be a powerful crypto asset, as alleged.