Ahmedabad:

The special ACB court here has declared former Dhari MLA Nalin Kotadiya as a proclaimed offender in Bitcoin extortion and Kidnapping case.

The CID-Crime had moved a plea in the court of special ACB judge P J Tamakhuwala on June 12 seeking proclamation of Kotadiya as absconder under section 82 of the CrPC. The court had reserved its verdict.

The court in its verdict today declared him absconder and gave him a months time to appear before it.

Meanwhile, CID-Crime DGP Ashish Bhatiya today said that if Kotadiya fails to surrender before the court in the stipulated time (30 days), the action to attach his property as per the legal provisions would start.

In its plea before the court the CID-crime had requested that as it has evidence against Kotadiya about his role in the bitcoin extortion case and he has gone underground. He should be proclaimed as absconder under section 82 of the CRPC

CID-crime had issued several summons and warrant against Kotadiya for appearing before it. It had also conducted raid at various places across the country to nab him.

Interestingly, complainant in the case Surat based builder Shailesh Bhatt, who later turned out to be a culprit himself, is also at large in yet another case lodged in this connection.

No plans to move court anytime soon to get Shailesh Bhatt also declared absconder:Bhatia

Gandhinagar:

CID-crime investigating the sensational Bitcoin extortion cases in Gujarat today said that it was trying to nab the complainant turned main culprit and Surat builder Shailesh Bhatt and has no plans to move to court anytime soon for declaration of him as an absconder like ex-MLA Nalin Kotadiya.

DGP CID-crime Ashish Bhatia today said that efforts were on to nab Bhatt. ‘We have not started any procedure to move to court for his declaration as absconder as we feel that we would nab him,’ he said.

He said that the process to declare him absconder through court of law would be started if he also remains underground for long.

Notably, a court in Ahmedabad has delclared Kotadiya an absconder in on of the Bitcoin related cases for his role in kidnapping of Bhatt in Gandhinagar in February this year and fraudulently taking bitcoins from him.

The CID-crime had last month got to know during investigation that complainant Bhatt himself was the main culprit in the case and the tune of the fraudulent scam was of hundreds of crores much more than the Rs 10 to 12 crore earlier thought of. A separate case was filed against Bhatt for snatching bitcoins from others. He is at large since then.

Notably, Bhatt had in April this year filed a complaint with the CID-crime claiming that his former business partner Paladia had conspired and he was kidnapped by Amreli police LCB PI Anant Patel and bitcoin worth Rs 12 crore was forcefully transferred from his account.

Apart from PI Patel, the then Amreli SP Jagdish Patel, Paladia and some other accused including the sister’s son of Bhatt were also nabbed in the sensational case.

DeshGujarat