SP held for bitcoin theft

The Gujarat Crime Investigation Department (CID) on Monday arrested Amreli Superintendent of Police (SP) Jagdish Patel in a case related to extortion and loot.

"We had picked up SP Jagdish Patel after the interrogation of arrested police inspector Anant Patel, who was working with the local crime branch," Ashish Bhatia, DGP (CID-Crime), told media persons.

The case relates to the abduction of Surat-based builder and complainant in the case, Sailesh Bhatt, who had claimed that he was forcefully made to transfer 200 bitcoins, worth Rs 12 crore, from his account and also made to pay Rs 32 crore in cash.

Bhatt had said that he was kidnapped by Anant Patel and other policemen from the Amreli Local Crime Branch (LCB) and kept at a farm house near Gandhinagar. He was then forced to share his passwords and code for transfer of bitcoins.

Two police constables of Amreli LCB, Babu Der and Vijay, and a Surat-based advocate Ketan Patel were also arrested in the case earlier and were behind bars.

Anant was arrested by the crime branch last week after he was on the run since the filing of the case earlier this month.

During the interrogation, Patel is said to have named the SP, stating that he had picked up the builder as per the instructions from him.

According to sources, the SP reportedly stayed away from his office after Anant's arrest. The CID had summoned Jagdish for interrogation two days ago but as he did not turn up, CID Crime picked him up from his residence in Amreli on late Sunday night.

CID Crime has constituted a SIT in connection with the case.