Uttar Pradesh: Three take Rs 1.3 crore ransom in bitcoins from realtor, held | Lucknow News - The Times of India

Uttar Pradesh: Three take Rs 1.3 crore ransom in bitcoins from realtor, held

LUCKNOW: In a first-of-its-kind crime reported in the state capital, three captors of a real-estate businessman used cryptocurrency to their advantage and took a ransom of Rs 1.3 crore in bitcoins before releasing him. The stunning fact emerged a week after the police arrested the three, Sandeep Pratap Singh and Vijay Pratap Singh aka Visnhu, both from neighbouring Barabanki district, and Rajveer Singh of Hardoi district. Police said that the arrested accused were in the know that the victim traded in cryptocurrency.Police recovered Rs 30,000 in cash, a country-made pistol, three live cartridges, five mobile phones and a car from them. According to police, the trio abducted Arjun Bhargav, of Indraprasth Grand near Kalindi Park in Vrindavan Yojana, on the pretext of showing him a plot in Barabanki on August 7. They held him hostage at a house where they thrashed him, trained a pistol on him and got Rs 1.3 crore in bitcoins transferred to their account.DCP (East Zone) Prachi Singh said the abductors, who pretended to be real estate dealers, met Bhargav and took him to Barabanki."On the way, they tied his hands and legs and took him to a house in Barabanki where they tortured him for three hours," said Singh. The officer said the victim's wife, Nidhi Bhargava, said in the FIR that abductors trained pistols on Bhargav forcing him to disclose the password and then got all the bitcoins transferred to their account.

"They also forced my husband to transfer the money into their bank account and opened fire when he resisted it. Luckily, he was not hurt. They then transported him to Lucknow and dumped him on the roadside," she said.DCP Singh said that police were tipped off by an informer about the miscreants who had abducted the businessman a week ago in a car bearing the plate of high court. "We laid a trap. On Tuesday, they visited the Kalindi Park locality probably to collect more money from the businessman. Two of them started to flee but fell at a muddy place. We nabbed them and their aide later," she said.

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