Bitcoin racket kingpin involved in 20 abductions across country

JAIPUR: Police on Sunday said Vikas, the kingpin of a Bitcoin kidnapping and extortion racket, had confessed to have committed over 20 abductions across the country. He was arrested by Jaipur police from Mumbai on Saturday.
Police said Vikas admitted to have been involved in at least 20 incidents of abductions and kidnappings.
“There are six FIRs against the accused in Haryana, Delhi and Gurugram.Apart from these, we have found his involvement in 20 cases which went unreported as victims did lodge a complaint,” he said.
Some of the victims shied away from filing complaints as they feared for their lives. Jaipur police commissioner Anand Srivastva said that he had spoken to victims and asked them to come here to register their complaints.
A budding model and a native of Mahendragarhin in Haryana, Vikas used to send invitations to investors in Delhi, Jaipur, Mumbai and Pune to come to Jaipur for Bitcoin trading.
“He sent flight tickets and booked rooms for targets at luxury hotels in Jaipur. Expensive cars like BMW were sent to pick them up from the airport,” said deputy commissioner of police (West) Vikas Sharma.
Once their targets landed in the city, they were abducted and held captive at highrises located in the suburbs of the city. The victims were tortured, stabbed and even their teeth plucked for extortion.
“Vikas ran his gang on lines of a well organised syndicate. He maintained a safe distance between his family life and criminal operations. So much so, that he kept his family and children at a separate flat in Jaipur. His closest gang members, including his brother, was not aware of the fact that their chief had bought another flat in Jaipur,” Sharma told TOI, adding that the accused himself never directly dealt with targets and communicated with the gang through WhatsApp calling.