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A former IPS officer alleged that Sule and Patole misappropriated funds from a 2018 cryptocurrency fraud case to fund the Assembly election.
The BJP called on Supriya Sule and the MVA to come clean on the allegations of cryptocurrency scam. (PTI/File)
Hours before polling in Maharashtra, the BJP on Tuesday alleged that NCP (Sharad Pawar faction) leader Supriya Sule and State Congress President Nana Patole are involved in a cryptocurrency scam.
The BJP’s allegations came after former IPS officer Ravindra Nath Patil claimed that Sule and Patole misappropriated bitcoins from a 2018 cryptocurrency fraud case to fund the ongoing Maharashtra Assembly elections.
However, Sule refuted allegations and filed a criminal complaint to the Election Commission of India (ECI) and the Cyber Crime Department.
What BJP Alleged?
The BJP played some purported audio clips of Sule’s conversation with an alleged witness in the case during a press conference. They also shared some chats involving a former police officer, Trivedi said the allegations pose a serious concern in the electoral process and demanded the MVA alliance to come clean on their involvement in the fraud case.
BJP’s National Spokesperson Sudhanshu Trivedi said, “The subject of the chats involves a former police officer, who had previously spent some time in jail for an allegation, being contacted by an accused dealer. The dealer requests a transaction involving bitcoins to be converted into cash.”
The BJP spokesperson demanded Sule and the Congress to come clean on it’s involvement in any kind of illegal Bitcoin transaction or connected to the key witnesses and law enforcement officials involved in the case. He also urged the Election Commission to maintain a strict vigil over the situation.
Supriya Sule Denies Allegations, To File Defamation Case
After Trivedi’s message, Sule dismissed the allegations as “conjecture and innuendo”, challenging any representative of the BJP for a debate in a public forum. The NCP-SP leader also said she would file a criminal and civil defamation notice against Sudhanshu Trivedi, who addressed a late-night press conference to address the allegations in the cryptocurrency fraud case.
I deny all the allegations levelled against me by Sudhanshu Trivedi. All this is conjecture and innuendo, and I am ready for a debate with any representative of the bjp at a time and date of their choice, in a public forum.— Supriya Sule (@supriya_sule) November 19, 2024
It’s appalling that such baseless allegations are made by Mr Sudhanshu Trivedi, yet not surprising as it’s a clear case of spreading false information, the night before elections. My lawyer will be issuing a criminal & civil defamation notice against Sudhanshu Trivedi for making…— Supriya Sule (@supriya_sule) November 19, 2024
Taking to X, senior NCP-SP leader Supriya Sule denied the allegations, labelling them as “false information”. She also filed a criminal complaint to the Election Commission and the Cyber Crime Department against the “fake allegations”.
Familiar tactics of spreading false information to manipulate the righteous voters are being resorted to, a night before the polling day. We have filed a criminal complaint to the Hon’ble ECI & the Cyber crime department against the fake allegations made of bitcoin… pic.twitter.com/g8Selv1DFk— Supriya Sule (@supriya_sule) November 19, 2024
What The Case Is About?
Former IPS officer Ravindra Nath Patil accused Sule and Patole of using Bitcoin manipulation to fund election campaigns, and also implicated former Police Commissioner Amitabh Gupta and cybercrime Bhagyashree Navatke, claiming they had received protection from the MVA leaders.
Speaking to news agency IANS, Patil said he was hired as a cryptocurrency expert to investigate the case in 2018, but was arrested on fraud charges in 2022 and spent 14 months in prison. “During that time, I kept wondering what had happened, what the case was about, and why I had been trapped,” he said.
Patil said a key witness in the case – Gaurav Mehta, an employee of an audit firm – had contacted him a few times in the past few days and shared details about the 2018 cryptocurrency fraud investigation. Patil alleged that Mehta named Sule, Patole and Amitabh Gupta in the case.
