Overview

• Special Judge B.B. Jadav convicted 14 of 15 accused of conspiracy, kidnapping for ransom, illegal detention, assault, and offenses under the Prevention of Corruption Act.
• Those sentenced include former Amreli superintendent Jagdish Patel and ex-MLA Nalin Kotadiya, with 11 police officers found to have abused official authority.
• Prosecutors detailed a February 11, 2018 abduction of Surat businessman Shailesh Bhatt, who was held at a farmhouse near Gandhinagar as assailants demanded 176 BTC and ₹32 crore.
• When the larger ransom failed, the conspirators forced the sale of 34 BTC for about ₹1.32 crore, a finding supported by digital forensics, banking records, and extensive testimony.
• The court issued perjury notices to numerous hostile witnesses and ordered gold worth roughly ₹2.4 crore seized from the ex-SP transferred to the Master of Mint, while noting Bhatt faces separate Enforcement Directorate charges from 2024.