Indian authorities cleared CoinDCX founders of involvement in a $75,000 cheating case, attributing the fraud to third-party impersonation.
A magistrate court in Thane, India, granted bail to CoinDCX co-founders Sumit Surendra Gupta and Niraj Ashok Khandelwal on March 23, determining no prima facie case existed against them in a complaint involving 71 lakh Indian rupees, equivalent to about $75,000.
The complaint alleged cheating through a fake trading platform that impersonated CoinDCX. The court noted that the founders were not present at the location of the alleged offense in Mumbra and that another individual, not the applicants, deceived the informant.
In its order, the magistrate recorded that the investigation officer had no objection to the founders' release. The informant admitted in court that a different person, identified as Rana, had repaid the cheated amount and that the founders were not involved in the meeting where the fraud occurred.
CoinDCX's Response to the Ruling
CoinDCX stated on March 24 that the court proceedings confirmed a third-party impersonation scenario. The company emphasized that the fraudulent site, coindcx.pro, had no connection to their official platform.
With the matter settled between the informant and the main accused, the court ruled there was no risk of the founders tampering with evidence or witnesses. Each founder was released on bail after posting a 50,000 Indian rupee bond, approximately $530, and agreeing to cooperate with the ongoing investigation.
Background on CoinDCX
Founded in 2018 and based in Mumbai, CoinDCX is one of India's leading cryptocurrency exchanges, valued at around $2.45 billion following a funding round in October 2025. The platform has faced prior scrutiny, including a July 2025 incident where hackers drained about $44 million from an internal account, though no customer funds were affected.
CoinDCX highlighted the rising threat of impersonation and phishing scams in India's financial sector, advising users to verify domains and engage only with official channels to prevent such frauds.
