Two weeks after reports emerged that the old currency notes worth Rs 745.58 crore were deposited in Ahmedabad District Cooperative Bank (ADCB) in five days of demonetisation in 2016, another purported "bitcoin scam" worth over Rs 5,000 crore has surfaced in the BJP-ruled state of Gujarat.
State Congress leadership has alleged that state BJP leaders could be involved converting black money into white through hawala network using the non-regulated digital currencies like bitcoin and others, Hindustan Times reported.
Demanding a Supreme Court-monitored judicial inquiry, Congress spokesperson Shaktisinh Gohil said the scam could be as high as worth Rs 88,000 crore.
"As the BJP is scrambling for answers to explain how Ahmedabad District Cooperative Bank, whose director is BJP chief Amit Shah, received old currency worth Rs 745.58 crore in just five days and how Rs 3,118.51 crore was deposited in 11 district co-operative banks linked with BJP leaders in Gujarat itself, a new 'mega bitcoin scam' worth more than Rs 5,000 crore has been unravelled in the state," he told the mediapersons.
The BJP, meanwhile, has said the allegations are "laughable" and "unfortunate", calling it nothing but the Congress' dirty trick department's handiwork to spread lies. BJP spokesperson Anil Baluni said the state police had unearthed the case, and that the probe was on.
The two subsequent allegations against the leaders of the ruling party have given a lot of ammunition for the opposition Congress in the home state of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
On June 22, Congress Spokesperson Randeep Surjewala had said that 19 months post demonetisation the scam's layers were being unearthed. On the reports of Rs 745.58 crore deposited in Ahmedabad Cooperative Bank, he said the "notebandi" was an opportunity for "notebadli" for Amit Shah's Ahmedabad District Cooperative Bank. He said that old notes worth Rs 3,118.51 crore were deposited in just five days of demonetisation in the 11 district co-op banks of Gujarat.