Bengaluru: Nearly a week after the Unocoin, virtual currency exchange company installed the country’s first bitcoin ATM in the city’s Kempfort Mall, Cyber Crime Police have registered a case against the company for setting up the ATM without permission and arrested the company’s co-founder Harish BN (37), a resident of Tumakuru.
It can be recalled that the RBI does not permit the use of bitcoin in India.
UnoCoin authorities, in a tweet, informed that the opening of the ATM was projected in a negative manner by some mainstream media. “The machine is still under final testing mode and it will be functional in a week. The machine has been temporarily moved from its original place of installation,” said the tweet.
The Cyber Crime department of the Central Crime Bureau (CCB) informed that the ATM kiosk installed by Unocoin in Bengaluru’s Kempfort Mall possesses no permission from the state government and is dealing in cryptocurrency outside the law.
Sources said that police seized several gadgets and Rs 1.79 lakh in cash from Harish.
“Two laptops, one smartphone, three credit cards, five debit cards, one passport, five company seals and one cryptocurrency device have been seized from Harish. The court has remanded him to the police custody,” informed a police officer.
