IIT Kanpur student, associates detained for cryptocurrency fraud

Mumbai: Six people, including a student of IIT Kanpur, were detained by the Naupada police in Thane city last week, on a cryptocurrency cheating complaint.

The complaint was made by Naupada resident Susshil Kangya, who said that people connected with multi-level marketing (MLM) companies Dronx.Biz and BNB Pool, which are online platforms for investing in cryptocurrency mining, had scammed him.

Senior Inspector Sanjay Dhumal from Naupada police station said that Subhransu Nayak, Rajesh Bapodra, Krish Reddy, Dr Peter Dhanraj, Avinash Upadhyay and Pankaj Pandhi, who were named in the complaint as the owners of the MLM organisations, were detained for questioning at the police station on May 9.

Kangya, who is a numerology consultant for Bollywood personalities, said he was conned into investing Rs 2.5 lakh in cryptocurrency, although Nayak, who says he is studying blockchain at IIT Kanpur, says the claims of fraud are untrue.

While Kangya stated in his complaint letter that the fraud could be worth $300 million, he also told The Free Press Journal that Nayak had never mentioned being an IIT student. “I was approached by Nayak and Pankaj Pandhi, who tricked me and my sister into participating in a cryptocurrency plan and earn 8% interest on a monthly basis. I have been in constant touch with Nayak and have gone out with him, but he never mentioned he was an IIT student,” Kangya said.

According to Kangya’s letter, he initially invested Rs 2.5 lakh and received returns for a few months, after which they stopped. When Kangya and his sister questioned Nayak and Pandhi about the non-payment of the returns, they were shown videos of Prime Minister Narendra Modi praising the organisations, to show that the businesses were legitimate.

Nayak told The Free Press Journal, “I’m studying blockchain at IIT Kanpur, and as an IIT student, I know what investments need to be made. I am an investor in Dronx.Biz and BNB Pool, and we have additional IIM and IIT graduates on our team, as well as other well-known experts.”

Senior PI Dhumal said that the police had received a letter from the complainant, but no FIR had been filed so far. The police did not know about Nayak being an IIT Kanpur student until he mentioned it to them, Dhumal added.

The Free Press Journal contacted IIT Kanpur for comment on the matter, but authorities refused to provide any information, besides confirming that Subhransu Nayak is a student taking an online course in blockchain technology at their institute.

Published on: Monday, May 15, 2023, 08:23 AM IST