An Indian court has suspended a former police officer’s life sentence pending appeal.

Jagdish Patel was one of fifteen suspects sentenced to life imprisonment last year.

Patel and several other former police officers were accused of extorting BitConnect investor Shailesh Bhatt.

BitConnect was a $2.4 billion MLM crypto Ponzi launched by Satish Kumbhani in 2018.

Bhatt (right) was a BitConnect Ponzi investor who, to avoid taking a loss when BitConnect collapsed in early 2018, took matters into his own hands.

[Bhatt]  kidnapped two of Kumbhani’s employees and extorted 2,091 Bitcoins, 11,000 LiteCoins and Rs 14.50 crore in cash to release them.

After paying off his accomplices to the tune of ~$34.4 million, Bhatt spent the extortion proceeds on real-estate, gold and “other assets”.

Back in 2018 Bhatt filed a criminal complaint of his own, alleging Amreli police officers had kidnapped and extorted $1.3 million out of him.

Jagdish Patel and fourteen other suspects were convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment in August 2025.

The Ahmedabad City Sessions Court on Friday convicted 14 accused, among them former BJP MLA Nalin Kotadiya, then Amreli SP Jagdish Patel, and then LCB PI Anant Patel, holding them guilty of alleged kidnapping and extortion in the multi-crore Bitcoin racket.

The trial unfolded in the ACB Special Court of the City Civil and Sessions Court, Ahmedabad, where the state lined up a staggering 172 witnesses against them.

In stark contrast, the defence could produce just one witness, and despite 92 witnesses allegedly turning hostile, the court found the evidence and arguments strong enough to seal the fate of the accused.

After nearly three months of intense final arguments, the gavel came down heavy as the court sentenced all 14 accused in the sensational scam to life imprisonment.

Somewhat concerning is the reasoning behind Patel’s sentence suspension and release.

During the pendency of Patel’s appeal in the HC against his conviction, a bench … granted him regular bail.

The bench said, “The entire case against [Patel] herein rests on circumstantial evidence and, admittedly, he was not present either at the place of the circuit house or at the place where the victim was kidnapped.

Moreover, the bench said, “We do not find any incriminating material that during the offence period, the applicant was in contact with the co-accused directly or indirectly.

On the allegations of ransom demand, the HC said, “There is nothing on the record to prove that applicant derived any financial benefit from the alleged act of ransom etc.”

Patel will remain released on bail pending the outcome of his appeal. It’s unclear whether any of the other convicted BitConnect extortion suspects have also appealed.