The Central Bureau of Investigation arrested Ayush Varshney on March 10, 2026. He is co-founder and CTO of Darwin Labs Private Limited. The arrest links directly to the GainBitcoin cryptocurrency fraud case.
According to CBI Headquarters on X, Varshney’s role went far beyond participation. Darwin Labs built the entire technological backbone of the fraudulent scheme. That includes GBMiners.com, a Bitcoin mining pool platform, a Bitcoin payment gateway, the Coin Bank wallet, and the investor-facing GainBitcoin website.
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The Ponzi That Built Its Own Infrastructure
The case centers on Variabletech Pte. Ltd. That company ran the GainBitcoin scheme. Investors were promised high returns. Funds collected were later misappropriated, as the CBI official statement confirmed.
Darwin Labs did the technical heavy lifting. The firm designed, developed, and deployed a crypto token called MCAP. The corresponding ERC-20 smart contract came from the same team. Varshney’s co-founders, Sahil Baghla and Nikunj Jain, who also holds a role at Vaomi AI, are named in the investigation.
The case is filed under Sections 120B, 406, and 420 of the Indian Penal Code. Section 66 of the Information Technology Act, 2000, also applies.
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A Supreme Court Order Triggered This
The CBI did not enter this case independently. India’s Supreme Court directed it on December 13, 2023. Multiple FIRs across states involving similar GainBitcoin allegations were consolidated. The CBI became the single investigating agency for all of them.
That order changed things. Before it, the cases were scattered across jurisdictions. After it, the CBI had clear authority to pursue everyone involved.
Varshney had been absconding. A Look Out Circular was issued against him. Immigration authorities at Mumbai intercepted him on March 9, 2026, as he was attempting to leave India. He was then handed to the CBI. The formal arrest came the following day.
The Man They Caught Leaving
The CBI’s statement, posted by CBI Headquarters on X, described Varshney as a “key person” in the fraud. Not a peripheral figure. Not a contractor. The investigation points to him as central to building what investors saw and trusted.
GainBitcoin was not a small operation. The scheme ran across thousands of crores. Real people put real money in, on promises of Bitcoin returns that never materialized.
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Darwin Labs built the face of that fraud. Varshney co-built Darwin Labs. That chain of accountability is what the CBI is now documenting in court.
Investigation Is Still Running
The CBI confirmed investigation continues. Varshney’s arrest is not the end of this case. Other co-founders remain named. The technical infrastructure they created is still being examined.
This is one piece of a much larger accounting. India has been watching GainBitcoin for years. The Supreme Court’s intervention in late 2023 was a signal this would not fade quietly.
The arrest of a CTO matters because it targets the builders, not just the promoters. That is a different kind of legal pressure entirely.
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