With the rise in cases of fraud in the name of Crypto Currency in the state, the Himachal Pradesh government has announced the constitution of a special investigation team (SIT) headed by the deputy inspector general of police (DIG).

The announcement was made by Deputy Chief Minister Mukesh Agnihotri during Question Hour in the Assembly on Monday in response to a question by MLA Hoshiyar Singh.

Agnihotri said that the SIT would be headed by DIG Northern Range Abhishek Dullar.

He said other experts will also be included in the SIT so that all such complaints can be investigated effectively.

“Fraud in cryptocurrency cases is continuously increasing at the global and national level and in a bid to earn quick money, people are falling prey to such temptations of fraudsters,” he said.

In the last two years, 56 complaints have been received in this regard by the cyber police station of the state, while 6 FIRs have also been registered, he said, adding that five people have been arrested, three of whom are from Himachal and two from Punjab.

He said that three cyber police stations have been set up in Shimla, Mandi and Kangra to investigate cryptocurrency crimes.

Earlier raising the issue during the question hour MLA  Hoshiyar Singh said that the frauds in the name of cryptocurrency have emerged as a big scam in which the people of Kangra and Hamirpur districts have fallen prey to Rs 200 crore fraud.

As many as 425 people are involved in this fraud, he added.

“In Dehra Assembly alone, people have been duped of Rs 10 crore in the name of cryptocurrency. Poor people are being lured to double their money in 8 to 9 months and a large number of people have become victims of this in Kangra, Una, and Hamirpur districts,” he said.

In response to another question raised by MLA Kewal Singh Pathania, Mukesh Agnihotri said,” In the last year of the previous BJP government’s rule, a revenue of Rs 1296.93 crore was received from the auction of liquor shops, whereas the current government has set a target of collecting Rs 1825 crore from liquor shops in the first year itself. This increase is 40 percent.”

He said that till now revenue of Rs 1301 crore has been collected till September 25, which has recorded an increase of 24 percent so far.

Agnihotri said that during the five-year rule of the former BJP government, there was only an 11 per cent increase in revenue from liquor shops.

Earlier, Kewal Singh Pathania through a supplementary question alleged that no auction of liquor shops was conducted during the rule of the former BJP government due to which the state government suffered a huge loss of revenue.