Businessman and actress Shilpa Shetty’s husband Raj Kundra approached the Bombay High Court challenging the summons and cognizance order issued by the special PMLA court in the Enforcement Directorate (ED)’s Bitcoin money laundering case. Bombay High Court has issued notice to ED.
The hearing of this case is to be held on August 6, 2026.

Raj Kundra has said in his petition that the special PMLA court, while taking cognizance of the ED’s supplementary prosecution complaint on January 5, 2026, did not give him an opportunity of hearing under Section 223(1) of the Indian Civil Security Code (BNSS). On this basis he demanded to cancel the court order.

What is the matter?

The ED investigation is related to two FIRs registered in 2018 at Pune’s Nigdi Police Station and Nanded Airport Police Station. The investigating agency alleges that Amit Bhardwaj and other accused raised crores of rupees by luring investors with high returns in Bitcoin through a crypto investment scheme called GainBitcoin (gainbitcoin.com). Later the investors did not get their money and the promised returns.

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ED alleges that Raj Kundra had received 285 bitcoins related to this alleged scam, whose value is estimated to be around Rs 150.47 crore. The agency says Kundra remained in possession of these bitcoins and allegedly refused to provide the relevant wallet address information or surrender the bitcoins.

The investigating agency has also alleged that in order to make the money earned from the alleged crime appear legitimate, Raj Kundra made some transactions with his wife at a price much below the market value, so that the real source of the money could be hidden. ED had filed a supplementary prosecution complaint on 16 September 2025, making Raj Kundra accused number-17. After this, the special PMLA court took cognizance of the complaint on January 5, 2026 and issued summons against him.

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The petition states that the main complaint was filed in 2019, while in 2021 the court took cognizance against accused numbers 1 to 12 and in 2024 against accused numbers 13 to 16. Supplementary charge sheet (prosecution complaint) against Raj Kundra was filed in 2025.

What is the argument in the High Court?

Raj Kundra’s lawyer Prashant Patil said that after the implementation of BNSS, it is necessary to give the accused an opportunity of hearing before taking cognizance of any complaint. Citing various judicial orders including the Supreme Court’s Kushal Kumar Agarwal vs. Directorate of Enforcement decision, he has said that the special court ignored the law. In the petition, a demand has been made to cancel the cognizance order of January 5, 2026 and the summons issued on its basis.