Three booked for extorting from cryptocurrency fraud accused

Surat: Three persons were booked by the Umra police on Friday for alleged extortion of Rs 70 lakh from a man accused in multiple cases of cryptocurrency fraud. The accused had allegedly started extorting money from Divyesh Darji in July 2019 and continued till March 2020.
Those booked include Umesh Jain, a resident of Kamrej, his associate Gautam and Jain’s driver. The accused were booked for extortion, voluntarily causing hurt to extort property and others. Police are yet to make any arrest in the case.
The complainant Darji is main accused in Bitconnect cryptocurrency racket and co-accused in similar offences registered in other parts of Gujarat and country. He is accused of fraudulently collecting investment from individuals in cryptocurrency and later disappearing with money. Darji was arrested by CID crime and he is currently out on bail.
In his complaint, Darji alleged that, Jain had kidnapped him on July 9 in a car and thrashed him. He said that Jain was demanding Rs 1.25 crore claiming he had invested the money in Dokado, another coin floated by Darji. Initially Darji claimed that there was no money invested by Jain but following threats he agreed to pay the money.
Darji Rs 70 lakh in cash and cheque to Jain in multiple transactions. Meanwhile, Jain continued to demand money and on August 16 he made 2,104 calls to Darji for money. As Jain continued to demand money, Darji approached police in March.