coindesk.com
India's Supreme Court has asked one of the key accused in one of India's biggest bitcoin scams to disclose his username and password.
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India's top court asked Ajay Bhardwaj, the brother and co-suspect of Amit Bhardwaj, who is deceased, to make full disclosures to India's Enforcement Directorate.
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Ajay Bhardwaj is one of the accused in the GainBitcoin scam, one of India's biggest bitcoin crimes. According to court documents, the scam is valued at 80,000 bitcoins (approximately Rs 20,000 crore or $3.8 billion).
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In the hearing on Monday, one of the government's top lawyers, Additional Solicitor General Aishwarya Bhati, said "this has nothing to do with the legality of cryptocurrency and the username and password is crucial in this matter." In the previous hearing, the Supreme Court had asked Bhati to clarify the legality of cryptocurrencies verbally but did not demand the clarification in the order.
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The Supreme Court bench, led by Justice DY Chandrachud, asked the accused to cooperate in the investigation and provide the username and password of his crypto wallet.
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Deepak Prakash, Ajay Bhardwaj's lawyer, told CoinDesk that his client does not know the username and password of his late brother's crypto wallet. He said Ajay Bhardwaj himself has an almost unused crypto wallet, and he will cooperate with and tell investigation authorities all of this.
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The top court was hearing a petition filed by Ajay Bhardwaj seeking quashing of the GainBitcoin case against him in which he and his deceased brother Amit are alleged to have offered a return of 10% on bitcoin for 18 months.
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The court also extended interim protection to Ajay Bhardwaj from arrest.
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India's Enforcement Directorate is an economic intelligence agency responsible for enforcing economic laws and fighting economic crime in India.
Read more: India's Top Court Queries Government on Crypto, but May Not Expect a Response