Bitcoin extortion: Ex-BJP MLA Kotadiya sent to CID custody

A court here remanded on Monday former BJP MLA Nalin Kotadiya, arrested in the Bitcoin extortion case, in police custody till September 17.

Additional Sessions Judge P J Tamakuwala sent Kotadiya in the custody of the police's Criminal Investigation Department (CID) for seven days, against the investigation agency's demand of 10 days.

The former MLA from Dhari in Amreli district was arrested Sunday from Amalner in Maharashtra by the Ahmedabad police's crime branch.

The CID told the court that Kotadiya was evading arrest since he was named as an accused in the case on April 8. The court had proclaimed him as an absconder on June 18.

The CID has sufficient evidence against Kotadiya, including call detail records, which reveal that he was in touch with other accused, it said.

He was involved in the conspiracy along with co-accused Kirit Patadiya and Ketan Patel, it claimed.

The former MLA has been booked for kidnapping, wrongful confinement, extortion and conspiracy.

Surat-based builder Shailesh Bhatt had lodged a police complaint alleging that police personnel from Amreli district kidnapped him and his business partner from Gandhinagar on February 9 and extorted Rs 9 crore worth of Bitcoins -- a form of digitial currency.

They were forced to transfer Bitcoins in the name of one of the accused, and Kotadiya was part of the entire conspiracy, Bhatt alleged.

The CID filed a charge sheet against Jagdish Patel, then Amreli district superintendent of police and a key accused in the case, in July. He was suspended from service.

Twelve other accused have been arrested while another, Jatin Patel, is absconding.