Overview
- A Look Out Circular triggered Varshney’s interception at Mumbai airport on March 9; immigration handed him to the CBI, which formally arrested him on March 10.
- CBI alleges Darwin Labs built MCAP and its ERC‑20 smart contract, the GBMiners.com mining pool, a bitcoin payment gateway, the Coin Bank wallet, and the GainBitcoin investor site.
- The agency describes GainBitcoin as a 2015 MLM scheme led by Amit and Ajay Bhardwaj that promised 10% monthly returns in bitcoin before switching investor payouts to MCAP in 2017.
- This marks the first arrest by the CBI in the consolidated investigation ordered by the Supreme Court in December 2023 to centralize multiple FIRs from across India.
- Authorities cite an estimated scale of roughly ₹20,000 crore and tens of thousands of bitcoins, with ED money‑laundering probes continuing, overseas asset attachments reported, and key promoters Ajay and Mahender Bhardwaj still absconding.