Mumbai: Businessman Raj Kundra sold his Juhu flat, valued at Rs 80 crore, to his actor wife Shilpa Shetty for Rs 38 crore in 2022 after the ED (Enforcement Directorate) initiated a probe against him in a money laundering case.

The ED suspects it was an internal arrangement of the couple to avoid the property’s attachment and it believes that Kundra is still the flat’s real owner, said sources.

On Thursday, the ED issued a press release stating that Kundra received 285 bitcoins from the mastermind and promoter of the Gain Bitcoin ponzi scam, Amit Bhardwaj (now deceased), for setting up a bitcoin mining farm in Ukraine. “The said bitcoins were sourced from the proceeds of crime collected by Bhardwaj from gullible investors. Since the deal didn’t materialize, Kundra is still in possession and enjoyment of 285 bitcoins, which are presently valued at more than Rs 150 crore,s” said the agency.

The ED believe that the bitcoins are still in Kundra’s possession but since he is not disclosing it, the agency is attaching his properties whose value is equivalent to that of the bitcoins. The ED is inquiring about Kundra’s other properties after attaching his bungalow in Pune, along with equity shares in his name and Shetty’s Juhu flat, collectively worth Rs 97.8 crores.

The attached properties are not directly connected to the proceeds of the crime and the ED may call Shetty to get her statement in the case.

Kundra and Shetty’s PR refused to comment on the allegation related to the Juhu flat transaction. The couple’s advocate, Prashant Patil, said Kundra had not received a single bitcoin as alleged by the ED. “There is no prima facie case made out against my clients Raj Kundra and Shilpa Shetty Kundra. We have faith in a fair investigation. We stand committed to cooperating with the authorities as and when required,” he said.

Earlier, Kundra had told the ED in his statement that he had provided consultancy services to Bhardwaj for bitcoin mining. He had said the Bhardwaj brothers—Amit and Ajay—through his bitcoin wallet, had transferred the cryptocurrency into another wallet and that he didn’t know the recipient.

The Pune-based Bhardwaj brothers promoted Variabletech Pte Ltd, a Singapore-based company, and controlled gainbitcoin.com and lured investors by promising good returns. Through gainbitcoin.com, the brothers collected cryptocurrency equivalent to Rs 6,600 crore from investors, defaulted on the payment and concealed the ill-gotten bitcoins in obscure online wallets. The investors filed police cases against the Bhardwaj brothers at various places a few years ago, based on which the ED registered the money laundering case.

Mumbai: Two masked men scaled the 20-ft wall of Bollywood actress Shilpa Shetty’s bungalow Kinara in Juhu and tried to steal valuables on June 6. After scanning through at least 80 CCTV cameras, the Juhu police on Thursday arrested the two men Arjun Devendra (26) and Ramesh Devendra alias Ajay (22) from Nehru Nagar in Vile Parle. The duo already has 16 cases of housebreaking registered against them.

At the time of the theft attempt, the actress and her family were away in Italy on a family vacation. They have yet to return. The hall, dining room, her daughter's bedroom, and the cupboard were ransacked, police said. “The CCTV cameras in the bungalow captured a man entering after removing the sliding window,” an officer from Juhu police station said.

Supervised by DCP (Zone IX) Krishnakant Upadhaya, the team that cracked the case include Juhu police senior inspector Ajitkumar Vartak, assistant inspector Vijay Dhotre, and detection staff.

Police are probing if they had stolen anything or it was a failed attempt.

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The Juhu police have arrested two thieves who entered actress Shilpa Shetty’s seaside residence through a sliding window on the first floor and made off with valuables on June 6. The cops are awaiting a statement from Shetty, who is abroad at present, mentioning the details of the missing valuables. The accused—Arjun Suresh Babu Debendram, 26, and Ajay alias Ramesh Debendra, 22—are residents of Kartik chawl at Nehru Nagar in Vile Parle East.

Arjun has been named in 12 cases of housebreaking and mobile theft across the city while Ajay is involved in three cases of the latter offence. The incident occurred at the Kinara bungalow at Mukteshwar Lane on Gandhigram Road. The complainant is Shekhar Choudhari, 30, a housekeeping manager at Shetty’s residence.

A police officer said, “On May 24, Shetty left to shoot for a project in a foreign country and the house was locked. On June 6, Choudhari noticed that a first-floor window was open and when he checked CCTV footage, he saw that a man whose face was concealed with a cloth had entered the building at 3.25 am.” The housekeeping manager immediately informed the Juhu police, who registered an FIR.

Senior Inspector Ajit Vartak formed a team comprising API Vijay Dhotre, the investigation officer, and Constables Amit Mahangade, Nitin Mandekar, Suhas Bhosale, Prakash Tasgaonkar, Tadvi and Bankar to nab the accused. The team examined footage from around 60-70 CCTV cameras in the area and eventually traced and arrested the accused on Thursday.

“The entire house, including the master bedroom, hall, dining room and the couple’s daughter’s bedroom, had been messed up. The accused had opened the window with the help of a screwdriver,” a police officer said.

Another officer said, “We have arrested the accused with the help of CCTV cameras but we are waiting for Shetty’s statement about missing valuables. Both the accused have criminal records and they have been involved in more than 13 cases.”

A representative of the actress told mid-day that the actress was unavailable for comment as she is not in the country.