Bengaluru: Co-founder of Unocoin, Harish BN (37) was arrested for installing a Bitcoin ATM in Bengaluru's Kempfort Mall without permission. The cyber crime police in Bengaluru had registered a case within a week after virtual currency exchange company, Unocoin, installed a Bitcoin ATM, which is touted as India’s first, despite the RBIs clampdown on crypto-currency in India.

The cyber crime department told the media that the ATM kiosk by Unocoin was installed without the permission of the state government and “was dealing in crypto-currency outside the remit of the law".

Harish was arrested and the cops seized Rs 1.79 lakh in cash and several gadgets like two laptops, one mobile, three credit cards, five debit cards, one passport, five company seals and one crypto-currency device from him. He was first produced at the ACMM court in Bengaluru before he was taken into police custody.

The ATM kiosk that was installed allowed customers to deposit and withdraw a minimum amount of Rs 1,000. The RBI, earlier this year, had issued a notice –‘Prohibition on Dealing in Virtual Currencies’ that financial institutions related with the RBI are not permitted to deal with crypto-currency. The central bank had also stated that crypto-currency is not a legal tender.

Also, the ATM had not started functioning and the users could only use it to withdraw and deposit Bitcoin and not buy or sell them.

The ATM location was moved from Bengaluru's Kempfort Mall to another after reports of criticisms emerged in media after the installation. Unocoin was also planning to install the same in Mumbai and Delhi.