Court Denies Bail to Lakshay Vij in $4 Lakh Money Laundering Case
The Rouse Avenue court in New Delhi has dismissed the bail plea of Lakshay Vij, who is accused in a money laundering case involving $4 lakh fraud. The case is connected to a US citizen, Lisa Roth, and involves laundering money through various bogus bank accounts.
Judge’s Decision
Special judge Gaurav Rao denied the bail, stating that the investigation is still in its early stages. He expressed concerns that releasing Vij on bail could lead to witness tampering and evidence destruction. The judge mentioned an incident where Arpan Gupta, a friend of Vij, allegedly broke his phone to avoid seizure of evidence during a raid.
Prosecution’s Stand
Special public prosecutors Manish Jain, Simon Benjamin, and Snehal Sharda represented the Enforcement Directorate (ED) and opposed the bail application. The ED’s investigation revealed that proceeds from the sale of Bitcoins defrauded from Lisa Roth were transferred to various bank accounts between June 12 and June 15, 2022.
Case Background
On July 22, Lakshay Vij was arrested and remanded to five days of ED custody. The court later remanded him to judicial custody, which is currently under challenge before the High Court. The ED’s case is based on a CBI investigation into a criminal conspiracy and cheating involving Praful Gupta and others. The victim, Lisa Roth, was misled into transferring $4 lakh to a cryptocurrency account, which was then emptied by the fraudsters.
Details of the Fraud
Lisa Roth’s laptop was hacked, and she was tricked into transferring her money to a supposedly secure account. The fraudsters gained remote access to her computer, opened a cryptocurrency account in her name, and advised her to transfer $4 lakh to that account. The money was then converted into cryptocurrency and transferred to the accused’s Binance and FTX wallet addresses.
The CBI registered an FIR against Praful Gupta, Sarita Gupta, and other accused persons based on Lisa Roth’s complaint.
Doubts Revealed
Bail -: Bail is when someone who is in jail is allowed to go home while they wait for their trial. They usually have to promise to come back to court.
Money Laundering -: Money laundering is when people try to hide where money really came from, usually because it was earned in illegal ways.
Rouse Avenue court -: Rouse Avenue court is a special court in New Delhi, India, where certain important cases are heard.
Lakshay Vij -: Lakshay Vij is the person who is accused of doing something wrong in this case.
$4 Lakh -: $4 Lakh means 4 lakh US dollars, which is a lot of money. In Indian rupees, it is around 3 crore rupees.
Lisa Roth -: Lisa Roth is a person from the United States who is involved in this case.
Special judge Gaurav Rao -: Special judge Gaurav Rao is the judge who decided not to give bail to Lakshay Vij.
Bitcoin -: Bitcoin is a type of digital money that people use on the internet. It is not like regular money you can hold in your hand.
Enforcement Directorate -: The Enforcement Directorate is a government agency in India that looks into financial crimes like money laundering.
Special public prosecutors -: Special public prosecutors are lawyers who work for the government to argue cases in court.
CBI -: CBI stands for Central Bureau of Investigation. It is a top police organization in India that investigates serious crimes.
Criminal conspiracy -: Criminal conspiracy is when two or more people plan together to do something illegal.
Cheating -: Cheating means tricking someone to get something unfairly or illegally.
