MichaelWuensch from Pixabay“>Image by MichaelWuensch from Pixabay
Belthangady: An 8-year-old child from the Beltangady taluk of the Dakshina Kannada district was kidnapped on December 17 by four persons in a white Tata Indica. What is truly bizarre about the incident is the fact that the kidnappers have demanded ransom, not in money, but in Bitcoins worth Rs 17 crores, ZeeNews reported.
This is believed to be the first-ever such case in Karnataka.
SP Lakshmi Prasad stated that the incident took place when the boy was returning home in the evening from the playground with his grandfather. reportedly, the boy’s father is a Hardware store owner in the area.
The incident took place in Ujire, as per the complaint filed by the family.
Speaking to The Indian Express, Belthangady Circle Inspector Sandesh PG said that an FIR has been filed at the Belthangady Police Station. An investigation into the incident is underway.
He added that the kidnappers have made several ransom calls to the boy’s mother, demanding that the payment be made in Bitcoins.
The kidnappers have, however, reduced the ransom amount twice; from Rs 17 crores to Rs 10 crores and then to Rs 25 lakhs as of Friday evening.
“This is possibly because they sense that they will be nabbed soon,” Sandesh added.
Meanwhile, four teams have been constituted to investigate the case and include personnel who have the experience to trace numbers from which the calls were made. Special teams are also checking vehicles at borders and different parts of the state.
A police officer told IANS that the boy’s father is known to be an investor in Bitcoins among his close circles.
“We suspect that someone close to him is behind this kidnapping,” claimed the police.
“Tracking Bitcoins would be really difficult once these parents chose to release the ransom amount. This trade is conducted in the most dubious manner. Hence it is difficult to track it down,” said a police officer.
The police officer added that the gang is intentionally negotiating the terms of the exchange in Hindi in order to mislead the police and parents.
“The kidnappers’ Hindi is not as fluent as North Indians would speak. The gang members appear to be from Karnataka itself. We’ve got some leads and we hope to nab them soon,” the officer said and added that the police have formed four teams to nab the gang.
(with IANS inputs)
