Allegations of a $78 million crypto fraud and a police raid are rocking Assembly elections in India’s Maharashtra state, which are underway at press time.
Maharashtra is India’s wealthiest state and home to the country’s financial capital, Mumbai. The ruling Mahayuti alliance, which includes prime minister Narendra Modi’s BJP party, faces main opposition from the MVA, a coalition that includes the NCP (SP).
Just days before polling opened, a former police officer accused MP Supriya Sule of the NCP (SP) of misappropriating seized bitcoin to fund its election campaign. They claim that Sule and state Congress chief Nana Patole took bitcoin that had been confiscated by police from a 2018 fraud case.
- In 2018, crypto dealer Amit Bharadwaj was arrested by Pune police and his wallet containing Rs 6,600 crore ($78 million) was seized.
- The whistleblower claims that former Pune Police Commissioner, Amitabh Gupta, instructed the wallet to be swapped out.
- Sule and Patole allegedly got hold of the original wallet and sold the bitcoin to influence the elections.
BJP shares voice clips of Sule, sparking lawsuit and AI debate
Modi’s BJP party soon echoed these allegations. BJP leader Sudhanshu Trivedi shared videos and voice recordings claiming to show Sule and those involved discussing these crypto transactions.
On Wednesday, Sule’s cousin and Maharashtra deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar said that the voice recordings were authentic and called for a formal investigation to begin.
“I know the voices of Supriya Sule and Nana Patole very well,” Pawar said. “The voices in the audio clips belong to both of them.”
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Sule, daughter of prominent politician and cricket chief Sharad Pawar, has denied the allegations. “Ajit Pawar can say anything,” she hit back. She claims the voice recordings are false, and has filed a criminal cyber fraud complaint against the former police officer who initially accused her.
“They have apparently attempted to create a fake voice of [Sule] to add fake credibility to their allegations,” the complaint reads. “This amounts to criminal impersonation […] with an intent to defraud and defame.”
Across X, onlookers appear divided over the authenticity of the recordings. Side-by-side comparisons by prominent fact-checker Mohammed Zubair suggest that the voices follow a rigid, monotonous rhythm compared to audio from other sources, which may suggest that AI was involved.
The Maharashtra Assembly elections are still underway at press time, with a recorded 45.53% voter turnout as of 3pm.
During the polling, police raided the home of the man accused of assisting Sule and Patole in the bitcoin theft at the alleged instruction of the Pune Police Commissioner.
