Fugitive cop’s car found

AHMEDABAD: In a major development in the bitcoin extortion case that CID crime is investigating, investigators have traced the SUV used by the key accused, police inspector Anant Patel, to evade arrest throughout last week. The SUV was found at a farm near Dhari in Junagadh.
Senior CID crime officials said they arrested two persons, drunk, from the farm in question. “The two told us that Patel came to the farm two days ago. He parked his SUV there and drove away in their small car,” a senior CID crime official said.

Senior officers said Ahmedabad city crime branch is helping CID crime to track down the absconding police inspector and other accused persons. “We have teams camping in Ahmedabad, Surat, Gandhinagar, Kheda and Rajashtan to nab them,” a CID crime official said.

A Surat-based builder, Shailesh Bhatt, had alleged that he was kidnapped and confined at a farmhouse in Ahmedabad by Amreli police and that inpector Anant Patel and other cops forced him to transfer bitcoins worth Rs 12 crore.

“The cops also forced Bhatt to transfer another Rs 32 crore in cash to let him go. Bhatt claimed that he called up an angadia to send the money, after which he was let go. However, once he was released, Patel again called the angadia who said he had not yet sent the money as the amount was too big,” said a senior police official.

CID crime sources said they arrested nine persons including eight cops so far, while Anant Patel is still on the run. Crime branch officials said they are tracking the movement of the absconding accused.