According to officials, this is the first time properties will be attached under the said Act in Punjab.

The masterminds of the multi-crore cryptocurrency scam amassed colossal wealth and accumulated prime properties, including petrol pumps and hotels. They lived lavishly from the funds of people seeking to double their income by investing in digital money.

The Dera Bassi police have arrested 11 suspects and have booked several absconding members of the gang, including alleged mastermind Subash Sharma of Mandi, HP. Sharma had shifted to Zirakpur but is currently suspected to be in Dubai.

The Dera Bassi Police have so far arrested Sukhdev Thakur, Hem Raj, Abhishek Sharma, Vipan Kumar, Sunil Siyal, Sham Sharma, Masoom Juneja, Neel Kamal alias Neel Dhiman, Ashwani Kumar and Arun Kumar Guleria.

The prime suspects, Subhash Sharma, Sukhdev Thakur, Hemraj Thakur, and others, all natives of HP, promoted a counterfeit cryptocurrency called ‘Korvio Coin.’

Dera Bassi police have identified ten properties worth over ₹20 crore of two accused, Subhash Sharma and Hem Raj. These properties are on the VIP Road and Nabha Sahib Road in Zirakpur.

Properties under the BUDS Act are attached through correspondence of station house officer (SHO), senior superintendent of police (SSP), director general of police (DGP), Bureau of Investigation (BOI), home department, and finance department (administrative secretary).

“After getting a go-ahead from the administrative secretary of the finance department, who is likely to do preliminary attachment orders, the report will go to the district judge, Mohali, to pass absolute attachment orders. We have already got approval from the BOI and the home department,” a senior police officer said.

Moreover, the revenue authorities have already frozen the sale of these ten properties.

Police recently arrested Masoom Juneja, co-director of Juneja Builders, who runs several property development projects in Zirakpur.

Masoom, according to sources, had invested with absconding mastermind Subash Sharma in multiple projects in Zirakpur. He was also in contact with accused Sukhdev and Hem Raj, who were brought here on production warrants from HP.

Sources added that the Chandigarh Police had previously detained co-accused Abhishek Sharma, but Juneja helped him strike a compromise with the complainant then.

“Masoom acted as a middleman, and investors invested their money in the cryptocurrency through him. He is also a director in a few shell companies,” a police officer said.

Another retired HP constable was arrested

Dersa Bassi The Dersa Bassi police on November 21 arrested another HP police constable, Neel Dhiman, who took VRS and indulged in the scam.

Police earlier arrested HP constable Sunil Kumar of Hamirpur, who took VRS. The accused made thousands of people invest in cryptocurrency, assuring them of weekly double returns.

According to the police, the role of several more cops, including senior police officers who took VRS, is under the scanner.

Mohali SSP Sandeep Garg had earlier stated that after the investors failed to withdraw money from Korvin Coin, the currency’s value was deliberately made to fall, following which people incurred huge losses. Then, the fraudsters shifted to other cryptocurrencies, including DGT coin in 2021 and Hypenext coin in 2022.

The scammers previously made 200 leaders invest lakhs in cryptocurrency. Every leader had around 100 persons under their chain who also invested in the cryptocurrency after being assured of weekly double returns. The investors were introduced with silver, gold, diamond, and platinum packages, and accordingly, they invested, expecting double returns. The investors could see that their currency was growing, but at the time when they wanted to withdraw the money, their accounts got deactivated, and they could never withdraw their money