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CASE 053  |  Luftan Shaikh, Mohammad Shazad, Malang Shah  |  June 30, 2019  |  India
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DATABASE RECORD
  id                  53
  date                June 30, 2019
  original_date       June 30, 2019
  year                2019
  month               6
  quarter             2019-Q2
  victim              Luftan Shaikh, Mohammad Shazad, Malang Shah
  location            Jaipur, Rajasthan, India
  country             India
  scenario            P2P Trade Gone Wrong
  description         Criminal Gang Abducts & Tortures Cryptocurrency Traders, Demands 80 BTC Ransom
  kidnappings         1
  violence_torture    1
  drugs_alcohol       0
  weapons             1
  theft               0
  life_taken          0
  money_wanted        (null)
  coin_type           (null)
  reports             Newsweek
  notes               two weeks in high rise building, no family contact
  has_processed_date  1
  created_at          2025-11-13 05:44:45

AI SUMMARY  [generated at bulk import, NOT verified against sources]
  **Victim:** Luftan Shaikh, Mohammad Shazad, Malang Shah
  
  **Attackers:** Gang/organized group
  
  **Attack Method:** P2P Trade Gone Wrong - victim kidnapped
  
  **Violence Used:** Torture
  
  **Crypto Stolen:** No theft completed
  
  **Status:** Investigation ongoing

LINKED SOURCES
  [url]  https://www.newsweek.com/cryptocurrency-traders-abducted-tortured-india-criminal-gang-arrested-bitcoin-ransom-1449274

NOTES ON THIS FILE
  * matched to sheet row 54: exact match on victim + year, unique on both sides

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ARTICLE 1
  Source   Newsweek
  URL      https://www.newsweek.com/cryptocurrency-traders-abducted-tortured-india-criminal-gang-arrested-bitcoin-ransom-1449274
  Origin   reported_K&R sheet, row 54, column "Articles"
  Length   2,199 chars
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Criminal Gang Abducts and Tortures Cryptocurrency Traders, Demands Massive Bitcoin Ransom

A criminal gang operating in India kidnapped and tortured cryptocurrency traders in recent weeks before demanding 80 bitcoins as ransom, police say.
The ordeal—which lasted more than two weeks for the victims—came to an end yesterday as seven people linked to the gang were arrested, the Hindustan Timesnewspaper reported. Law enforcement in Jaipur city said the police operation on Sunday lasted 13 hours.
Three men had been held captive for 15 days inside a high-rise building and were beaten or tortured, deputy commissioner of police (DCP) Vikas Sharma told local media. The individuals were named as Luftan Shaikh, 19, Mohammad Shazad, 36 and Malang Shah, 44. 
"The gang kidnapped Shaikh and Shazad, two bitcoin traders, and demanded 80 bitcoin worth ₹8 crore ($1.2 million). Shah was kidnapped two days later. The gang demanded ₹10 lakh ($15,000) from his family members," the deputy commissioner said in a statement. The price of digital currency bitcoin fluctuates daily, which likely explains the difference in exchange rate.
Police said officers were alerted to the scheme after a 20-minute chase resulted in the arrest of a suspect who was seen carrying a pistol in Bhakrota, which is a residential area in Jaipur. The man told officers about the kidnapping and gave up the location of the apartment building.
India-based media outlet NDTV reported that the cryptocurrency traders had been lured into the region by gang members who claimed to be selling bitcoins at a low price.
"[The gang] wanted to extort money from the trio. They held them hostage in the flat and had threatened to kill them if the demands were not met," NDTV quoted Sharma as saying. "Not even their family members were aware of the abduction. The victims had lost all hope because they had no access to anyone." Police said they seized guns and SUVs from the criminals.The suspects were identified by local media as Jitendra Kumar, 21, Deepak Kumar, 22, Anupam Soni, 19, Pawan Kumar, 20, Bhawani Singh, 19, Lokendra Singh, 24 and Rahul Kumar, 19. Lokendra Singh is from Rajasthan and the others are originally from Haryana. 

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FETCHED ARTICLE 1  [RAW EXTRACT — NOT YET TRIMMED]
  !! This is the whole page as extracted. It still contains site furniture,
  !! and may contain teaser headlines for UNRELATED cases. Trim on read-through.
  !! Do not quote from it without checking the passage belongs to this case.
  Source     newsweek.com
  URL        https://www.newsweek.com/cryptocurrency-traders-abducted-tortured-india-criminal-gang-arrested-bitcoin-ransom-1449274
  Field      url
  Retrieved  2026-09-05T12:54:51+00:00 via raw HTTP retrieval, deterministic extraction (HTTP 200)
  Language   unknown
  Kept       paragraphs ALL 19 paragraphs, untrimmed
  Length     5,773 chars
  Integrity  sha256 b4cd0788a584b641b6c9021f6a4f267cc9f00e61f59cd59a869007fcf8964496
  Trimmed    NOT TRIMMED. Full page extract; trim on read-through.
  Caveat     retrieved from a live page on the date above. Unlike text copied
             from the spreadsheet, there is no second copy to hash it against.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

ORIGINAL (unknown, verbatim as retrieved)

Criminal Gang Abducts and Tortures Cryptocurrency Traders, Demands Massive Bitcoin Ransom - Newsweek

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A criminal gang operating in India kidnapped and tortured cryptocurrency traders in recent weeks before demanding 80 bitcoins as ransom, police say. The ordeal—which lasted more than two weeks for the victims—came to an end yesterday as seven people linked to the gang were arrested, the Hindustan Times newspaper reported. Law enforcement in Jaipur city said the police operation on Sunday lasted 13 hours. Three men had been held captive for 15 days inside a high-rise building and were beaten or tortured, deputy commissioner of police (DCP) Vikas Sharma told local media. The individuals were named as Luftan Shaikh, 19, Mohammad Shazad, 36 and Malang Shah, 44. "The gang kidnapped Shaikh and Shazad, two bitcoin traders, and demanded 80 bitcoin worth ₹8 crore ($1.2 million). Shah was kidnapped two days later. The gang demanded ₹10 lakh ($15,000) from his family members," the deputy commissioner said in a statement. The price of digital currency bitcoin fluctuates daily, which likely explains the difference in exchange rate. Police said officers were alerted to the scheme after a 20-minute chase resulted in the arrest of a suspect who was seen carrying a pistol in Bhakrota, which is a residential area in Jaipur. The man told officers about the kidnapping and gave up the location of the apartment building. India-based media outlet NDTV reported that the cryptocurrency traders had been lured into the region by gang members who claimed to be selling bitcoins at a low price. "[The gang] wanted to extort money from the trio. They held them hostage in the flat and had threatened to kill them if the demands were not met," NDTV quoted Sharma as saying. "Not even their family members were aware of the abduction. The victims had lost all hope because they had no access to anyone." Police said they seized guns and SUVs from the criminals. The suspects were identified by local media as Jitendra Kumar, 21, Deepak Kumar, 22, Anupam Soni, 19, Pawan Kumar, 20, Bhawani Singh, 19, Lokendra Singh, 24 and Rahul Kumar, 19. Lokendra Singh is from Rajasthan and the others are originally from Haryana. As reported by The Next Web, it's not the first time cryptocurrency traders have been targeted by extortion gangs. In January this year, it emerged that police in South Africa had arrested two suspects who allegedly kidnapped a 13-year-old boy and demanded bitcoins from his parents. He was safely returned to his family, local media outlet Times Live reported. The pair were caught after attempting to kidnap a teenage girl.

See more of our trusted coverage when you search.to see more of our trusted coverage when you search.

A criminal gang operating in India kidnapped and tortured cryptocurrency traders in recent weeks before demanding 80 bitcoins as ransom, police say.

The ordeal—which lasted more than two weeks for the victims—came to an end yesterday as seven people linked to the gang were arrested, the Hindustan Times newspaper reported. Law enforcement in Jaipur city said the police operation on Sunday lasted 13 hours.

Three men had been held captive for 15 days inside a high-rise building and were beaten or tortured, deputy commissioner of police (DCP) Vikas Sharma told local media. The individuals were named as Luftan Shaikh, 19, Mohammad Shazad, 36 and Malang Shah, 44.

"The gang kidnapped Shaikh and Shazad, two bitcoin traders, and demanded 80 bitcoin worth ₹8 crore ($1.2 million). Shah was kidnapped two days later. The gang demanded ₹10 lakh ($15,000) from his family members," the deputy commissioner said in a statement. The price of digital currency bitcoin fluctuates daily, which likely explains the difference in exchange rate.

Police said officers were alerted to the scheme after a 20-minute chase resulted in the arrest of a suspect who was seen carrying a pistol in Bhakrota, which is a residential area in Jaipur. The man told officers about the kidnapping and gave up the location of the apartment building.

India-based media outlet NDTV reported that the cryptocurrency traders had been lured into the region by gang members who claimed to be selling bitcoins at a low price.

"[The gang] wanted to extort money from the trio. They held them hostage in the flat and had threatened to kill them if the demands were not met," NDTV quoted Sharma as saying. "Not even their family members were aware of the abduction. The victims had lost all hope because they had no access to anyone." Police said they seized guns and SUVs from the criminals.

The suspects were identified by local media as Jitendra Kumar, 21, Deepak Kumar, 22, Anupam Soni, 19, Pawan Kumar, 20, Bhawani Singh, 19, Lokendra Singh, 24 and Rahul Kumar, 19. Lokendra Singh is from Rajasthan and the others are originally from Haryana.

As reported by The Next Web, it's not the first time cryptocurrency traders have been targeted by extortion gangs. In January this year, it emerged that police in South Africa had arrested two suspects who allegedly kidnapped a 13-year-old boy and demanded bitcoins from his parents. He was safely returned to his family, local media outlet Times Live reported. The pair were caught after attempting to kidnap a teenage girl.

...

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generated from attacks-export-Gart-website.json + reported_K&R  |  case 053
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