In a major development in what appears to be India’s biggest Bitcoin crime, Nalin Kotadiya, a former Member of the Legislative Assembly, belonging to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) - has finally been arrested. Kotadiya was declared as an 'absconder' by a sessions court in Gujarat in June.
Kotadiya’s arrest came yesterday after officials of the Ahmedabad Crime Branch arrested him during a raid on one of his properties in Maharashtra’s Dhule. Kotadiya had been absconding ever since his name popped up in the Bitcoin extortion case. However, he had been communicating via video messages, even saying that there are many other politicians who might be involved in this case. The Crime Investigation Department (CID) of the Gujarat state had charged him as an accused in a 9.95 Crore Bitcoin extortion case.
As per reports from local media, Kotadiya has been charged with sections 364-A (Kidnapping for ransom), 384 (extortion), as well as under the Prevention of Corruption Act of the Indian Penal Code. In a statement to Indian newspaper The Indian Express, Deepan Bhadran, the Deputy Commissioner of Police of the Ahmedabad Crime Branch said:
"He was detained from a house in Amalner town in Dhule this morning. We brought him to Ahmedabad late in the evening. We are in the process of handing him over to CID (Crime)."
The case alleges that Kotadiya had masterminded the kidnapping of a local builder, Shailesh Bhatt, as well as his friend Kirit Paladiya. The duo were beaten up by Anant Patel, who was a police inspector in the local crime branch of Amreli in February 2018. The builder filed a complaint stating that the police inspector and his team (a total of 10 people) forced Kirit Paladiya to transfer 200 Bitcoins (worth 12 Crores) to an account.
The accused police officers were then nabbed by the crime branch - and following a series of investigations, it was revealed that Nalin Kotadiya was also involved. Kotadiya, who represented the BJP as a MLA from 2012 to 2017 had since quit the party. Kotadiya was sent multiple summons by the court, but he failed to show up. Following the issue of a non-bailable warrant against him, he was nowhere to be found and the courts officially declared him as an absconder.
Deepankar Trivedi, Deputy Inspector General of Police, CID (crime) commented:
"He was the planner of the whole thing. He brought Amreli police and Ketan Patel on board and got extortion money. We have already recovered Rs 25 lakh extortion money paid to him. In all, we will have to recover around Rs 55-60 lakh from him."
Further investigations had revealed that Kirit Paladiya too, had been involved in this racket. Paladiya was arrested on the 4th of May. In another twist to the plot, investigations then revealed that Shailesh Bhatt himself was involved in a kidnapping and extortions case involving Bitcoins. This is one of the biggest cryptocurrency scandals coming out of India - and continues to grab eyeballs with every passing development. Stay tuned with us as we provide regular updates on the case.