India Jails 14 for Life in Crypto Extortion Case Involving Cops, Ex-MLA

An Indian anti-corruption court has sentenced 14 men to life in prison for the 2018 kidnapping and extortion of a businessman over his cryptocurrency ￰0￱ Takeaways: An Indian court sentenced 14 men to life in prison for kidnapping a crypto investor in ￰1￱ victim was abducted at gunpoint and forced to transfer 34 BTC, with a larger ransom demand later ￰2￱ victim himself is now under investigation in a separate crypto extortion case involving BitConnect ￰3￱ convicted include 11 serving and former police officers and one former legislator, Nalin Kotadiya, who served in Gujarat’s Legislative Assembly from 2012 to 2017, per local ￰4￱ group was found guilty of kidnapping, extortion, and conspiracy under various sections of the Indian Penal ￰5￱ sentencing was handed down by Special Judge ￰6￱ in ￰7￱ Businessman Lured and Abducted in Crypto Extortion Plot The case stems from the abduction of Shailesh Bhatt, a businessman from Surat, who was reportedly lured to a gas station on February 9, 2018, by men pretending to be officers from India’s Central Bureau of ￰8￱ there, Bhatt was taken to a farmhouse near Gandhinagar and held at gunpoint by police officers demanding cryptocurrency and ￰9￱ was forced to sell 34 Bitcoin, worth approximately $150,000 at the time, and transfer the funds to his captors.

A larger demand of 176 BTC and ₹32 crore (roughly $3.6 million USD) in cash was also made, but the courier delivering the cash suspected a setup and failed to complete the ￰10￱ brought in 172 witnesses during the trial, including digital forensics specialists and bank officials. However, 92 of those witnesses later recanted or altered their ￰11￱ Jadav responded by issuing perjury notices to 25 of them, citing concerns over witness tampering and obstruction of ￰12￱ 11 police officers were additionally convicted under India’s Prevention of Corruption Act for misuse of official position. BREAKING: Gujarat court sentences 14 people to life imprisonment in a 2018 Bitcoin extortion ￰13￱ group kidnapped a businessman & extorted 176 BTC + ₹32 Cr as ￰14￱ of India’s biggest crypto-related crime scandals finally reaches verdict.) August 30, 2025 Kotadiya, who had evaded law enforcement for months, was eventually arrested in September ￰15￱ case also puts a spotlight on Bhatt himself, who is currently facing legal proceedings for his alleged role in another crypto-related ￰16￱ claim Bhatt kidnapped two BitConnect promoters and extorted thousands of Bitcoin and Litecoin, along with over ₹14 crore in ￰17￱ was arrested in August 2024 by India’s Enforcement Directorate on charges including kidnapping and money laundering.

India’s ED Raids Crypto Fraud Network Tied to $29M Bitcoin Scam Earlier this month, India’s Enforcement Directorate (ED) raided 11 locations across cities, including Delhi, in connection with a global crypto fraud ￰18￱ crackdown followed FIRs filed by the CBI and Delhi ￰19￱ to officials, the accused posed as law enforcement or tech support agents to extort money from both Indian and foreign ￰20￱ revealed that the fraudsters amassed over $29 million in Bitcoin, which was then converted to USDT and liquidated through hawala channels in the ￰21￱ raids, conducted under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), targeted individuals and operators linked to the ￰22￱ operation comes shortly after another ED probe into a separate $4.7 million crypto scam involving a spoofed Coinbase ￰23￱ worth ₹42.8 crore, including 18 properties and bank credits, were provisionally seized from accused Chirag Tomar and his ￰24￱ has been appointed to manage seized digital assets amid the broader crackdown.