Assuring those who committed Rs 2500 crore scam in the name of crypto currency will not be spared, Deputy Chief Minister Mukesh Agnihotri informed that as many as 5000 government employees had fallen prey to it in Himachal Pradesh.

This kind of fraud will not be tolerated in ‘Devbhoomi,’ the land of Gods, he said, adding that over one lakh people of Himachal have been cheated in fraud.

Addressing media persons here on Saturday, he appealed to the people of the state not to fall prey to fraudsters assuring quick money.

Some employees in the greed to double their savings quickly, even left their jobs and took premature retirement and invested their savings in it themselves, he said, adding that they also lured others including those who got compensation for their land for four lane construction to invest in it.

He reassured that the Special Investigation Team (SIT) constituted by the government is working diligently and more arrests will be made in the coming time.

Initially there were 8 complaints regarding this digital scam and now 300 complaints received so far and the number is increasing.

Agnihotri said: “Subhash Sharma, a resident of Sarkaghat, has earned Rs 200 crore from crypto currency and has now fled to Dubai before the crime was busted. A look out notice has been issued to arrest the kingpin.”

People of Mandi and Hamirpur have invested the most money in this scam while some people from Punjab and Haryana too fell prey to the scam, he said, adding that around 100 people have earned Rs 2 crore each and 200 people have earned Rs 1 crore each from crypto currency.

“In the first phase, action is being taken against those earning Rs 2 crore each. After this, action will also be taken against those who earned Rs 1 crore,” he said.

“Our focus is to ensure that such frauds do not happen to the people of the state in the future. Police of other states have also become alert regarding the scam. So far 10 accused have been arrested in this case, while around 50 more people can be arrested soon,” he said.

He further said that more than 80 mobile phones and property worth Rs 8.50 crore have been seized during investigation, adding that Subhash Sharma, Hem Raj and Sukhdev both from Mandi, and Abhishek from Una were the main accused, who were behind this crime network.