Suspended police official Jagdish Patel, an accused in the alleged abduction and multi-crore rupee bitcoin extortion case, was on Monday granted bail by the Gujarat high court. Former MLA Nalin Kotadiya is also an accused in the bitcoin extortion case, and is in judicial custody.
Patel, who was Amreli SP at the time, was arrested in the Rs 131 crore bitcoin extortion case and under other criminal charges on April 23 and was in jail since. He was suspended by the home department in May. He was granted regular bail by the high court on Monday.
Justice AJ Desai directed the suspended cop to surrender his passport to the court, and also asked him not to leave the state without the court’s prior permission. The high court also asked him to strictly comply with the bail conditions.
According to officials, a team of Amreli police had abducted Surat-based builder Shailesh Bhatt and his associate and Nalin Kotadiya’s nephew Kirit Paladiya, in a bid to extort bitcoins from them. This was in February. Subsequent investigations shows that Paladiya was mastermind of the conspiracy, and had made a deal with Jagdish Patel and others to extort the crypto-currency from Bhatt, and to share the spoils.
Later, the complainant Shailesh Bhatt was also booked in a case of abduction after it emerged that days before his own abduction, he had abducted one Dhaval Mavani, who was running a crypto-currency firm in Surat, and extorted Rs155 crore from him. This included bitcoins worth Rs 140 crore, and Rs 14.50 crore in cash.
The police have so far arrested more than 10 persons in the case. The arrested also include then Amreli PI Anant Patel, who had abducted Shailesh Bhatt at the SP’s behest, and was also a part of the extortion racket.
Former MLA Nalin Kotadiya, who allegedly received Rs 66 lakh of the money extorted from Bhatt, was on the run for several months, but was arrested in September. He is in judicial custody at present. The CID (crime) had filed a charge sheet against the suspended Amreli police chief in July describing him as a key conspirator in the extortion case.
The opposition Congress had demanded a Supreme Court-monitored probe in the multi-crore rupee bitcoin case alleging that top BJP leaders in the state were linked with it. However, the state government had rejected the demand saying police had exposed the case in a swift and transparent probe.
CASE STUDY
- Patel, who was Amreli SP at the time, was arrested in the Rs 131 crore bitcoin extortion case and under other criminal charges on April 23 and was in jail since
- He was suspended by the home department in May, & was granted regular bail by the high court on Monday
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 "Bitcoin extortion case")
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