An Indian court has convicted 14 individuals, including a former lawmaker and a law enforcement officer, for the extortion of $3.6 million (₹32 crore) in bitcoins from a Surat businessman. According to a Hindustan Times report, Nalin Kotadiya, a former Member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) for the Bharatiya Janata Party, and Jagdish Patel, a former Amreli superintendent of police, were both sentenced to life in prison.

The conviction stems from a 2018 case in which two business partners, Shailesh Bhatt and Kishor Paladia, were kidnapped and illegally detained. Kotadiya and Patel, along with several unnamed Amreli police constables, held the victims at a farmhouse where they were coerced into transferring the bitcoins.

In handing down the judgment, city court judge B.B. Jadav detailed the conspiracy:

“The accused have hatched a criminal conspiracy in furtherance of their common intention for the commission of the present crime and abducted victim Shailesh Bhatt against his will on Feb. 11, 2018, and illegally confined him at Keshav Farm from 12:00 to 6:00 p.m. and demanded a huge sum of money. [They] beat him and received the amount toward their illegal demand through various Angadiya firms, which are recovered in the present case on hand.”

The court also found that Kotadiya had personally threatened Bhatt and was involved in the ransom negotiations.

Meanwhile, the investigation revealed that the victim, Bhatt, had himself allegedly obtained the bitcoins—which are linked to the Bitconnect ponzi scheme—by posing as an income tax official to extort them from another Surat businessman, Dhaval Mavani. Mavani later filed a police complaint accusing Bhatt of kidnapping and forcibly taking 2,256 bitcoins from him.

The judge also expressed dismay at law enforcement officials who failed to uphold their constitutional duties when they learned of Bhatt’s alleged involvement in illegal bitcoin transactions.

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