In India, 11 police officers were sentenced to life in prison for kidnapping a crypto businessman
Date: 2025-09-01 Author: Gabriel Deangelo Categories: IN WORLD
An anti-corruption court in India has sentenced 14 defendants to life in prison in a high-profile case of cryptocurrency theft and extortion. Among the convicted were former MP Nalin Kotadiya and former Amreli district police chief Jagdish Patel. The court's decision was announced on August 29, 2025, as reported by Indian media.
The victim of the crime was entrepreneur Shailes Bhatt from the city of Surat. In 2018, he managed to return part of the invested funds from the creators of the infamous BitConnect crypto pyramid. This information quickly spread and interested Kotadiya along with a group of high-ranking police officers. The investigation established that they organized a conspiracy to seize more than 750 BTC.
The kidnapping took place on February 11, 2018. Bhatt was forcibly taken to a farm near Gandhinagar, where he was beaten and forced to confess to receiving 752 BTC. According to him, his partner kept some of it, and he had already sold the rest for about $5 million. The operation was led by Inspector Anant Patel of the Amreli Crime Department, who acted together with a group of subordinates.
The entrepreneur was released only after he agreed to hand over some of the digital assets and an additional $3.6 million in cash. However, the deal fell through, and the kidnappers forced him to sell 34 BTC, extorting another $150,000.
Bhatt's appeal to the Indian Ministry of Home Affairs marked the beginning of a large-scale investigation. As a result, 15 people were detained, and 173 witnesses were involved in the case. The court found 11 police officers guilty not only of kidnapping and violence, but also of violating anti-corruption laws due to abuse of power.
In addition to prison terms, the court ordered the confiscated gold jewelry from Jagdish Patel and handed it over to the Mumbai Mint. According to the authorities, the verdict demonstrates India's determination to crack down on crypto-related crimes, even when they involve government officials.
This case has become one of the most high-profile examples of corruption and crime in law enforcement agencies being directly linked to the cryptocurrency market.
