Kolhapur: Kolhapur police booked four persons for allegedly cheating five people of Rs 31 lakh through bitcoin. Police said the complainant, Satyajeet Bhimashankar Bodhe, a resident of Rajarmpuri, has brought the complaint to them, saying he was promised montly returns of 10% on investment.“As per the complaint total five persons were cheated by the accused. Bodhe was cheated to the tune of Rs 7.60 lakh, Girish Madhukar Khochikar was cheated of Rs 1.04 lakh, Vishal Dattatraya Nakate to the tune of Rs 12.66 lakh, Srihari Gopal Gulawani to the tune of Rs 2.60 lakh and Prithviraj Vilasrao Patil to the tune of Rs 7.20 lakh,” a police officer attached with Rajarampuri police station said.“The accused had opened his office at one of the buildings in Lane 6 of Rajarampuri. He contacted these five people and lured them with a high interest rate, asking them to invest in his company. He promised monthly returns of 10% on their investment. All these five persons had bitcoins of that particular amount and invested them in his company for a particular period. The incident happened between August 31, 2016 and April 15, 2017. After the completion of the tenure, when the complainant enquired about the investment and returns, he found that his bitcoin was sold by the accused without his consent. All five demanded their returns from the accused, who flatly refused to pay back. They finally lodged a complaint at our police station on January 31,” the officer said, adding that a case has been booked under Sections 406 (punishment for criminal breach of trust), 420 (cheating and dishonestly inducing delivery of property), 120 (B) (punishment of criminal conspiracy) and Section 201 (causing disappearance of evidence of offence, or giving false information to screen offender) of IPC and Section 66 D of IT Act, 2000.

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