Bitcoin case: Surat businessman’s partner summoned by CID

AHMEDABAD:

CID crime

has summoned

Kirit Paladiya

, the

business partner

of

Shailesh Bhatt

— the complainant in the

bitcoin case

— for questioning on Monday.

CID sources said that they want to probe the role of all the alleged players in the case including Ketan Patel; Bhatt; Paladiya; and ex-MLA of the BJP from Dhari, Nalin Kotadiya. CID also wants to question Ketan Patel’s brother Jatin Patel, who has apparently flown out of the country.

CID officials have interrogated Ketan Patel in the Sabarmati Central Jail for two days. “He did not answer our questions, including those regarding his brother,” a CID official said.

On the other hand, CID has managed to find the CCTV footage of Amreli police inspector Anant Patel giving two boxes to his constables near a hospital on SG Road in Ahmedabad on April 6. A complaint was registered on April 8.“These are shoeboxes which we suspect contain Rs 40 lakh,” a senior CID official said. “The constables won’t come to SG Road in Ahmedabad to take only shoes. The constables are absconding.”

CID sources said that they have recorded the statements of anagdiyas from Surat who had transferred Rs 1.32 crore in the name of Anant Patel’s friend. ‘We have recorded the statement of Anant Patel’s friend, who is based in Amreli. He has confessed that he had handed over the money to Anant Patel,” a senior CID official said. “Anant Patel has said in his statement that he had handed over the money to Amreli superintendent of police Jagdish Patel.”

Senior CID officials said that it is important for them determine the origin of the money. “We have tracked the money trail to Surat and will soon expose the whole conspiracy which we suspect was planned in mid-2017,” the senior official said. Five accused in the case including Jagdish Patel, Anant Patel, and Ketan Patel have been arrested by CID. “There is certainly more than meets the eye in the case and we will soon learn what that is,” a CID official said.