Bitcoin trader’s suicide: FIR against DSP, his brother

AHMEDABAD: Three days after a bitcoin trader from Ranip committed suicide, police on Wednesday filed an FIR against a Gujarat police official and his brother, for allegedly abetting the trader’s suicide.
Police filed an FIR against Narmada district deputy superintendent Chirag Savani and his brother Harnish alias Montu Savani, under IPC Sections 306 (abetment to suicide), 506 (criminal intimidation), and 114 (abettor present when crime committed).
The bitcoin trader, Bharat Patel (50), a resident of Balaram Society in Ranip, hanged himself from at his home on Sunday. Patel left behind a suicide note blaming Savani and his brother for “threatening” him over the losses they incurred in their cryptocurrency investment.
In her FIR filed on Wednesday, Patel’s wife Usha, stated that Savani and his brother used to threaten her husband to get him to compensate the losses they incurred in their cryptocurrency investments.
“On Saturday night, my husband told me to sleep on the terrace and insisted that he would sleep inside the house. As he was under immense pressure for the last few days, I did not want to leave alone in the house. I told him that I wanted to sit with him for a while time. To this, he said he would also sleep on the terrace,” said Usha in the FIR.
“When I heard him snore, I too went to sleep, thinking he was asleep. In the morning, he was not beside me and I ran downstairs only to find the door closed. After trying to open it, I and others broke open the door and found him hanging from the ceiling fan,” it added.
Usha also cited Patel’s suicide note, in which he had said that after incurring losses, the police officer and his brother were pressing him to give them 11.575 bitcoins against their loss of five bitcoins.
Ranip police on Sunday registered an accidental death FIR and began an investigation. Police sent Patel’s suicide note to the FSL along with other documents written by him to match his handwriting.
The probe has been handed over to ACP D S Patel. The accused DSP and his brother have not yet been arrested. Police may call them in for questioning on Friday.