₹32 Cr Bitcoin Extortion: Ex-SP Jagdish Patel Gets Bail in India’s Biggest Crypto Case

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India’s ₹32 Cr <a href="https://pricpr.com/btc-usd/">Bitcoin</a> Extortion Case: Gujarat HC Grants Bail to Ex-SP

Key Highlights

  • Gujarat HC suspends life sentence of ex-SP Jagdish Patel and grants bail in India’s biggest Bitcoin extortion case.
  • Case involved 176 BTC, ₹32 crore demand, and 14 convicts including police officials and ex-BJP MLA Nalin Kotadiya.
  • ₹155 crore crypto trail linked to the victim reveals deeper fallout from the collapsed BitConnect Ponzi scheme.

In a significant turn of events in a well-known Indian cryptocurrency crime case, the Gujarat High Court has overturned the life sentence of former police officer Jagdish Patel and released him on bail.

According to The Times of India, the court has granted Patel permission to travel outside the country.

In August 2025, an Ahmedabad court sentenced Patel, who was the police superintendent of Amreli district when the crime occurred, to life in prison. He was one of 14 people convicted for the 2018 kidnapping of Surat businessman Shailesh Bhatt and the subsequent demand for Bitcoin ransom.

I’m watching this case closely as a crypto investor. It’s interesting that Patel’s been granted bail while he appeals his conviction. The initial court really came down hard on him, emphasizing the need to stop corruption within government roles, so this bail feels like a shift. It could definitely impact how these kinds of cases are handled going forward, which is something I’m keeping an eye on, especially as regulations around crypto become more prevalent.

What was the 2018 Bitcoin extortion case?

This case began on February 11, 2018, when police officers, led by Anant Patel, took builder Shailesh Bhatt and his colleague Kirit Paladiya into custody near Gandhinagar. They held Bhatt illegally at a farm called Keshav Farm, where he was assaulted, threatened with a gun, and forced to disclose information about his Bitcoin investments.

Court documents show that Bhatt managed to recover some of the money he lost in the BitConnect scam – a $900 million fraud – by getting Bitcoin from one of BitConnect’s creators, Dhaval Mavani. After learning about this, former police officer Jagdish Patel and ex-politician Nalin Kotadiya are accused of plotting to take the Bitcoin from Bhatt.

The group first asked for 176 Bitcoin and ₹32 crore (about $3.6 million) in cash. When those negotiations failed, they made Bhatt sell 34 Bitcoin from a friend’s account, earning them around ₹1.32 crore (approximately $150,000) from the sale.

After being released, Bhatt reported the incident to the Union Home Ministry, leading to an investigation by the Gujarat State CID-Crime branch.

Life sentences for 14, including an ex-MLA and an ex-IPS officer

As a researcher following this case, I can report that after a long trial with 173 prosecution witnesses – surprisingly, 92 of whom ended up not supporting the prosecution – the Ahmedabad ACB court, under Special Judge B.B. Jadav, convicted 14 out of the 15 accused. Bipin Patel was the only one acquitted. Importantly, the court also issued notices for perjury to 25 witnesses because they were found to have provided false testimony.

Those convicted included Jagdish Patel, a former police superintendent, Nalin Kotadiya, a former member of the legislative assembly (who represented Dhari from 2012-2017), nine police constables from Amreli, and two others. The eleven police officers were also found guilty of corruption and misconduct while in office.

The court ruled that around ₹2.4 crore (about $290,000) worth of gold jewelry seized from Jagdish Patel would be sent to the Mumbai Mint for processing and kept by the government.

Kotadiya also challenged the conviction

Nalin Kotadiya appealed his conviction to the Gujarat High Court in October 2025, also requesting a suspension of his sentence. He had been a fugitive for several months, finally being arrested in Jalgaon, Maharashtra in September 2018, and is currently held in jail awaiting the court’s decision.

The victim was also an accused

A surprising development in this case is that the victim, Shailesh Bhatt, is also facing criminal charges. Investigators discovered that shortly before his own kidnapping, Bhatt allegedly kidnapped two BitConnect employees – including a developer named Dhaval Mavani – and demanded a ransom of 2,256 Bitcoin, 11,000 Litecoin, and ₹14.50 crore (about $1.64 million) in cash. He apparently did this to try and recover money he lost when BitConnect failed.

In August 2024, Indian authorities arrested Bhatt on charges of money laundering and kidnapping, and he is still in jail. Investigations have revealed over ₹155 crore (approximately $17.6 million) in cryptocurrency and cash connected to his actions.

What this means for India’s crypto crime landscape

The Gujarat Bitcoin extortion case is still the biggest crypto crime conviction India has ever seen. It revealed widespread corruption among police and politicians in Gujarat, and showed how criminals can take advantage of the lack of clear rules around digital currencies.

Putting Patel’s sentence on hold is a common legal step while his appeal is considered, but it further complicates a case that has already shaken public trust in India’s ability to prosecute influential people involved in crimes related to cryptocurrency.

India leads the world in cryptocurrency adoption for the third year in a row, according to the Chainalysis 2025 report. However, the country is also seeing a rise in crypto-related fraud, including scams and schemes, and authorities are struggling to keep up with the growing problem.

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2026-03-17 07:17