AHMEDABAD: Former BJP MLA -- Nalin Kotadiya , who had also backed the quota agitation leader Hardik Patel during the reservation stir, is in a legal soup as a local court on Thursday issued arrest warrant against the saffron party leader in the sensational Bitcoin case. Kotadiya along with others inlcuding 10 cops had allegedly hatched conspiracy to abduct a businessman Shailesh Bhatt seeking Bitcoins in ransom.Additional sessions judge Pratik Tamakuwala while allowing the plea of the prosecution issued the warrant under section 70 of Criminal procedure code (CRPC) on Thursday against Kotadiya and considered the CID’s argument that the accused BJP leader has not been cooperating with the probe."There is material and evidence regarding substantiating the allegation and it has also emerged from the record that though summons were issued twice and Kotadia himself has assured to remained present and thereby has not cooperated with the investigating agency and so the warrant is required to be issued as prayed by the investigating officer," said the court in its order."With a warrant under section 70 of the CrPC, CID can notify Gujarat police and other agencies and seek help from police and investigating agencies from outside the state to find and arrest Kotadiya," a CID official said.Court also observed that the paper on records substantiated Kotadiya’s involvement in the offence.Kotadiya, the former MLA from Dhari in Amreli district, is accused in the Bitcoin (cryptocurrency) extortion case in which several police officials, including a superintendent of police and an inspector of the local crime branch, have been arrested.Advocate Sudhir Brahmbhatt on behalf of CID submitted before the court that it had issued summonses to Kotadiya under section 160 of CrPC, asking him to appear before it on two occasions, but he had failed to do so."Police teams have not been able to find Kotadiya, despite going to his residence and a place where he was believed to be hiding at. On May 7, Kotadiya had sent the agency a fax stating that he would appear before them on May 12 but did not do so,” the application moved by CID said.“We have concrete evidence against Kotadiya. He is a politically influential person. His evading arrest could be an attempt to delay and create hindrance in the investigation,” the plea said.

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