Indian Anti-Corruption Court Sentences 14 in Major Kidnapping and Extortion Case
An Indian anti-corruption court has sentenced 14 individuals, including 11 police officials and a former Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Member of Legislative Assembly (MLA), to life imprisonment in a case tied to the kidnapping and extortion of cryptocurrency from a Surat-based businessman in 2018.
The judgment was delivered by Special Judge B. B. Jadav in Ahmedabad on Friday, which found the group guilty of criminal conspiracy, kidnapping for ransom, illegal detention, and assault, as reported by The Times of India.
Among those convicted are former Amreli district superintendent of police Jagdish Patel and ex-MLA Nalin Kotadiya. All 11 police officers, including former IPS officer Patel, were also found culpable under the Prevention of Corruption Act for misconduct by public servants.
The case revolves around businessman Shailesh Bhatt, who had reportedly managed to recover part of his lost investment from BitConnect developer Dhaval Mavani in the form of Bitcoin (BTC) after the $900 million company he invested in went bankrupt.
When Kotaidiya and senior officers in Amreli discovered that Bhatt had recouped some of his investments, they allegedly devised a scheme to seize the cryptocurrency. On February 11, 2018, Bhatt was abducted and unlawfully detained at Keshav Farm near Gandhinagar.
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The kidnapping was orchestrated by Amreli local crime branch inspector Anant Patel and involved several officers. Bhatt was allegedly beaten and coerced into confessing that he had received 752 Bitcoin from Mavani and had stored 176 of them with his associate, Kirit Paladiya. The rest had been sold for approximately $5 million.
Bhatt was only released after agreeing to transfer part of the Bitcoin and $3.6 million in cash. When this arrangement collapsed, the accused compelled Bhatt to sell 34 Bitcoin from Paladiya’s wallet, resulting in an extortion of $150,000.
Bhatt later lodged a complaint with the Union home ministry, which triggered a criminal investigation leading to the arrest of 15 individuals. The prosecution, led by special public prosecutor Amit Patel, called upon 173 witnesses during the trial.
The court also ordered the confiscation of gold items obtained from Amreli SP Patel, which will be handed over to the Master of Mint in Mumbai.
In related news, last week, Thai authorities apprehended a South Korean man accused of assisting a call center gang in laundering cryptocurrencies into over $50 million worth of gold.
