Probe turns full circle as complainant now accused

AHMEDABAD: CID crime has cracked the full circle of two kidnapping cases in the Bitcoin scam which took place within a space of 15 days. The first one took place on February 1, 2018, when the complainant in the second kidnapping, a businessman from Surat, Shailesh Bhatt, had tried to recover his investment in the virtual currency investment companies, Bit Connect and Nexa Coins.

The second kidnapping took place on February 11, and this time it was the business partner of Bhatt, Kirit Paladiya, who played a double-cross to get hold of the money Bhatt had extorted in the earlier kidnapping.

CID crime officials said Bhatt had invested Rs 2 crore during demonetisation in Bit Connect and Nexa Coins, owned by one Satish Kumbhani — a native of Amreli, who had studied pharmaceuticals in the UK. Kumbhani had started his venture in Surat and used to spend most of his time in Goa leading a lavish life.

CID crime officials said that about a year and a half ago, the value of Bitcoin shot up to US $470 and then suddenly crashed to US $5. This gave a jolt to the investors who lost crores. Kumbhani and other promoters of the company fled the country. “Of company employees, only Dhaval Mavani and an office boy, Piyush Savaliya, were still in the country. Bhatt kidnapped Savaliya and learned from him that Mavani had thousands of Bitcoins in his block-chain wallet. Bhatt, then kidnapped Mavani and extorted a total of Rs 155.21 crore from him in the form of Bitcoins,

Litecoins

and cash,” said DGP Ashish Bhatia.

Later, both Savaliya and Mavani were threatened and made to flee the country to avoid legal consequences. “Kirit Paladiya, who had helped Bhatt to convert Litecoins extorted from Mavani into Bitcoins, was aggrieved for not getting his share,” said a CID crime official.

Paladiya got into touch with advocate Ketan Patel, who allegedly used to work for senior police officials and help to invest their black money.

“Ketan talked to SP Amreli, Jagdish Patel, and later a plan was hatched to stage a kidnapping of Bhatt. Inspector Anant Patel and ex-BJP MLA, Nalin Kotadiya, also got involved. On February 15, Paladiya brought Bhatt to Ahmedabad from where he was kidnapped, and 176 Bitcoins were extorted from him. Bhatt tried to hide the earlier kidnapping, but we got through and cracked the case,” said a senior CID crime official.