An industrial warehouse filled with various discarded materials, including broken machinery, scattered debris, and piles of rubble
A self-described ‘business tycoon’ has been ordered to pay £1.4 million after being exposed as the mastermind behind a series of massive illegal fly-tipping sites across the country.
Varun Datta, 36, who portrayed himself as a ‘world-renowned’ entrepreneur, was dubbed the ‘Bitcoin Bulldog’ amongst associates as he purportedly possessed ‘millions’ of pounds in the digital currency.
However, last week it was revealed the polo-playing magnate from India is the owner of a company which had unlawfully dumped 4,275 tonnes of household waste at 16 sites throughout England, a crown court heard.
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The Environment Agency (EA) has now disclosed he must pay over £1m after admitting to knowingly causing controlled waste to be deposited on land.
A hearing took place at Birmingham Crown Court last week (Friday 13).
The court was told that Datta – who resides in a £5million four-bedroom mid-terrace property in Belgravia, London – became a registered waste broker via his business, Atkins Recycling Ltd, where he served as director from July 2015.
The ‘venture capitalist’ has previously presented himself as an ‘entrepreneur, strategist, visionary, and philanthropist’ to his 122,000 Instagram followers.
The reported millionaire – who attended America’s top-ranked public university, UC Berkeley – allegedly channelled his fortune into blockchain technology, cryptocurrency, data systems, and the medicinal use of cannabis in the United States.
In 2022, reports emerged that he began investing in cryptocurrencies in 2014, which expanded his fortune, enabling him to ‘shuttle between Miami and London’ for business purposes.
However, a court was told the businessman audaciously claimed the waste handled by his firm was being transported to a legitimate facility at Kiveton Park, near Sheffield, South Yorkshire.
In reality, the enormous quantities were instead redirected to 16 unlicensed sites across eight regions of England, including historic manor houses and nature reserves.
Most of the dumped waste consisted of mixed waste, wrapped in plastic to create bales.
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Sites ranged from Kent, Cambridgeshire and Surrey to Middlesbrough, Lancashire, Lincolnshire, Leicestershire and Rutland.
In mid-2017, the EA launched a nationwide investigation into the high-flyers’ practices, with enquiries leading officers to Datta’s residence in 2018, where they confiscated £131,520 in cash.
Subsequently, in 2022, a restraint order was imposed on two bank accounts to guarantee that any future confiscation orders could be satisfied.
He initially appeared at Birmingham Magistrates Court in August 2023.
The matter was later transferred to the crown court, where Datta eventually admitted guilt on 3 June 2025 – having originally entered a not guilty plea in 2023 – to unlawfully depositing waste between 1 January and 30 May 2017.
Whilst sentencing Datta, Judge Paul Farrar KC described the tycoon’s conduct as “reckless”.
He stated: “Smell and flies were a feature at some of the illegal sites and caused a localised adverse effect to air quality.”
Judge Farrar further noted that landowners were “forced to incur substantial costs in removing the illegal waste” and “no environmental permit or valid exemption was in place at any of the sites.”
Datta has been instructed to pay £1,116,432.78 through a confiscation order, representing the financial gains he made from knowingly facilitating the illegal dumping of waste.
He was additionally ordered to pay £100,000 in compensation — £70,000 towards clean-up costs for Middlesbrough Council and £30,000 to Lancashire Wildlife Trust for the future management of the Middleton Nature Reserve.
Datta must settle the amount within three months, or face an 18-month custodial sentence.
He was further instructed to pay £200,000 in prosecution costs, alongside a four-month prison sentence, suspended for 18 months, as well as 30 days’ rehabilitation and 200 hours of unpaid community work.
Two further individuals, Mohammed Saraji Bashir, 45, of Windmill Street, Peterborough, and Robert William McAllister, 55, of Iveagh Close, Northwood, London, were also convicted of offences connected to the illegal dumping.
Bashir received a four-month sentence, suspended for 18 months, after pleading guilty to knowingly causing controlled waste to be deposited across three sites. McAllister received a £750 fine for failing to meet the duty of care requirements placed on waste brokers, in connection with controlled waste that was dumped across two locations.
Environment Secretary Emma Reynolds described the firms’ conduct as “shocking” and “welcomed” their penalties.
Emma Viner, Enforcement and Investigations Manager in the Environment Agency’s National Environmental Crime Unit, stated the agency is “glad to see the perpetrators brought to justice”.
Arrest warrants remain active for Sandeep Golechha, 53, of Wheatley Close, London, and Jason Newman, of no fixed abode.
