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The CBI on Wednesday summoned Gaurav Mehta, an audit company employee, to appear before it as soon as possible in connection with the Rs 6,600-crore Gain Bitcoin ponzi scam case, officials said. The central probe agency had registered three cases related to the scam last month on the Supreme Court orders issued last year, officials said. Mehta was summoned by the CBI, a day after his name cropped up in purported tapes of Maharashtra political leaders discussing the encashment of the cryptocurrency worth crores. The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) swung into action hours after the Enforcement Directorate, investigating the money laundering aspect, launched raids at the Mehta's residence in Chhattisgarh. The apex court handed over cases registered against Variable Tech Pvt Ltd across the country to the CBI in December 2023. "During the investigation, it shall be open to the CBI to club/consolidate any one or more of the FIRs," the top court had said. The apex court had clarif
The government's proposal to regulate Bitcoin crypto currency has sparked a regulatory turf war between Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) and Reserve Bank of India (RBI). According to sources, the central bank is of the opinion that bitcoin is a security rather than currency and should be regulated by Sebi. The proposal though has not gone down well with the latter opposing the suggestion. The finance ministry had last week called for a meeting of all the stakeholders to discuss the regulatory framework of the virtual currency. During the meeting RBI has proposed to allow trading in bitcoin on the lines of trading in commodity derivatives such as gold or silver. It also recommended that Sebi while regulating the currency ensure that it should not be used for any illegal activities like money laundering, terror funding. Sebi though had expressed displeasure over the RBI's proposal. "It (bitcoin) cannot be classified as commodity derivatives as per extant legal provisions," .