Updated on Feb 19, at 2.05 p.m.

The Gujarat anti-terrorist squad (ATS) will now conduct a joint investigation of the Junagadh extortion case, along with the cases of Ahmedabad betting and Manavadar suicide.

The ATS has connected the accused, Taral Bhatt, with several bookies nationwide, over which this case has been taken up by police departments in four other states, along with the central government as well.

Meanwhile, the two accused police officers associated with this case, AM Gohil and Dipak Jani, along with the complainant, Kartik Bhandari, have been made chief witnesses by the ATS.

Updated on Feb 15, at 12.35 a.m.

The Gujarat anti-terrorist squad (ATS) further requested three days’ remand of Taral Bhatt before the Junagadh court in the police extortion case.

The district principal judge, HA Dave, reprimanded the investigating officials for the remand seven days after Bhatt was sent to jail.

The court remarked, “Why didn’t you ask to renew his remand when he was jailed? Has he frozen the bank accounts? Was any investigation conducted at the banks? Was any investigation conducted at the addresses mentioned in the Aadhaar Cards?”

Justice Dave pointed to a lapse in the investigation of this case and took notice of the prolonged probe.

ATS deputy superintendent of police (DySP) Shankar Chaudhari replied that the details of the frozen accounts have been requested from the banks via email.

Over this, the court questioned, “Have you sent any personnel to get these details instead of relying on an email? If the bank details of the frozen accounts could be availed of by a police constable, then what has your team, with a statewide outreach, done for this?”

The court ordered the ATS to present the letter written to the banks regarding the frozen accounts, case diary, and statement of the special operations group (SOG) officer before granting the remand.

ATS has also uploaded a copy of the details fetched from Bhatt’s mobile phone by the forensic science lab (FSL) team on the server to secure it from any tampering.

After the fiery round of questioning, the court approved Bhatt’s remand from 8 a.m. today to 10 a.m. Feb 16.

Bhatt’s medical report was also ordered to be submitted in court before and after his remand tenure.

Updated on Feb 9, at 3.30 p.m.

The Gujarat anti-terrorist squad (ATS) reportedly nabbed two bookies from Ahmedabad and Mumbai during the remand of Taral Bhatt and kept this development confidential.

One of these two associates, known as ‘Deep,’ was nabbed from Mumbai on Feb 5, while the other, known as ‘Yuvraj,’ was held from Sindhu Bhavan Road in Ahmedabad on Feb 7.

With these arrests, the number of bookies and punters interrogated in the investigation of this case passed beyond 24 in two weeks.

However, the investigating officer, deputy superintendent of police (DySP) Shankar Chaudhari, denied making any such arrests.

Sources suggest that these bookies generated the bank details used in this extortion case. One of them owns a ₹150 cr farmhouse and runs a nexus to convert black money into white, according to the sources.

Updated on Feb 8, at 12.58 p.m.

After the completion of Taral Bhatt’s four-day remand relating to the police extortion case, he was presented before the court on Feb 7. The Gujarat anti-terrorist squad (ATS) did not request his further remand, and he was sent to jail by the court’s order.

As per reliable sources, the ATS reportedly hasn’t churned out any significant insights into this case in the four-day-long interrogation of Bhatt.

Updated on Feb 6, at 2.15 p.m.

It has been reiterated and restored by the Gujarat anti-terrorist squad (ATS) that a bank account could only be frozen over an ongoing police probe regarding a complaint registered at a police station or any law enforcement agency.

An official letter has to be written to the bank to suspend an account over police proceedings, it added.

The ATS notified that it is currently probing around 100 bank accounts frozen or directed to be frozen by the accused, Taral Bhatt.

Updated on Feb 5, at 5.44 p.m.

During the Gujarat ATS search, a pen drive and a few digital documents were found. However, the ATS couldn’t find a laptop, mobile phone, and phone without a SIM card that Patal used after absconding.

Updated on Feb 4, at 1.40 p.m.

Suspended police inspector (PI) Taral Bhatt was presented before the Junagadh sessions court designated as a special court on Feb 3.

In the 45-minute-long arguement in the hearing, Bhatt’s lawyer defended his client by stating he had only followed the protocol by gaining the bank details as part of the overall details in those cases and passing it onto Junagadh special operations group (SOG) PI Arvind Gohil. He had nothing to do with this case, he claimed.

It was Gohil who misused the bank details to carry out the exhortations, as he has the authority to freeze the accounts, not his client, argued the lawyer.

Bhatt’s lawyer argued that Bhandari had not registered any complaint as well, but the case was reduced to a media trial against his client, a responsible officer.

The suspended PI surrendered voluntarily to the authorities and was not arrested by the ATS, argued his lawyer against the ATS claims.

Gujarat ATS gets Bhatt’s four-day remand

The Gujarat anti-terrorist squad (ATS) requested a 14-day remand of the accused by submitting a report to interrogate him over several aspects of this case, including his connections with the other operatives, the link behind providing him with the bank details, and copying the bank details from the cyber crime cell to his pen drive.

On this request, the court approved his four-day remand.

40% - 50% of the money in the frozen bank accounts was extorted by the accused, according to the ATS report.

Amounts to the tune of crores were demanded from the 386 bank accounts, according to the report.

Complainant Kartik Bhandari’s bank account had a balance of ₹55 lakh, over which ₹25 lakh was demanded to unfreeze it.

ATS also mentioned seizing a new mobile phone without a SIM card from Bhatt. The three phones associated with this case are suspected to have either been hidden or destroyed by him, which could reveal major details.

The report also mentioned that Bhatt was slyly misleading the interrogation because of his familiarity with police proceedings.

The ATS would request a further extension of his remand if deemed necessary.

Updated on Feb 3, at 12.35 p.m.

After seven days of registering a complaint against suspended police inspector (PI) Taral Bhatt, the Gujarat anti-terrorist squad (ATS) got hold of him on Feb 2 in a dramatic pursuit.

Bhatt was held near Ahmedabad on a ring road. He was reportedly on his way to surrender before the Junagadh sessions court.

Gujarat director general of police (DGP) Vikas Sahay himself showed up at the ATS office to interrogate the suspended PI.

Bhatt had reportedly travelled for two days to Ujjain’s Mahakaleshwar temple, along with paying a day’s visit to Rajasthan’s Shrinathji temple as well. His itinerary for the remaining four days and the owner of the vehicle used by him are yet to be revealed.

ATS chased Bhatt through the licence plate number of his car after his phone was found to have been switched off.

ATS teams were deployed to the locations Bhatt had travelled to but couldn’t nab him.

Bhatt is to be presented before the Junagadh court today.

Witnesses and other people involved will also be interrogated in this case, said DGP Sahay.

Complainant Kartik Bhandari’s statement was also recorded as per Article 164 in the court to affirm the details provided by him, said ATS deputy inspector general (DIG) Deepan Bhadran.

It is noteworthy that Taral Bhatt has been absconding since Jan 26, when the complaint was filed against him, right after attending the Republic Day ceremony in Junagadh.

Updated on Feb 2, at 3.39 p.m.

Gujarat ATS has launched an extensive probe against police inspector Taral Bhatt in the case. A search operation was conducted at Bhatt’s Ahmedabad house in Sola area on Feb 1. During the  1.5-hour-long operation, Bhatt’s family members were interrogated and a pen drive and other digital documents were confiscated.

Bhatt and his family’s bank accounts, as well as their properties, will also be probed by the ATS.

The Junagadh residences of inspector AM Gohil from Cyber Crime Cell of Junagadh special operations group (SOG)  and assistant sub inspector (ASI) Dipak Jani will also be searched by the ATS.

CCTV footage from their residences will also be thoroughly probed from Jan 21 till date.

It is noteworthy that in the hearing of Manavadar circle police inspector (PI) Taral Bhatt’s anticipatory bail in the Junagadh police extortion case, the anti-terrorist squad (ATS) has informed that owing to another investigation, it will be able to remain present at the court. 

The hearing has therefore been adjourned until Feb 6.

Frozen accounts at Junagadh SOG office

In the ATS investigation , it was found that the Junagadh SOG got hold of 390 bank accounts, out of which 35 were seized by notorious officers. Out of these, from 25 accounts, a total of ₹3 cr were blocked.

It was reported that the duo based in the Junagadh SOG-cum-cybercrime cell demanded ₹20 lakh to unfreeze the blocked accounts.

The case was unravelled after a Kerala-based individual, Kartik Bhandari, filed a complaint over being asked for ₹20 lakh for unfreezing his account by Junagadh cybercrime cell’s ASI Jani and PI Gohil.

All three of the officers were suspended, and a case is filed against them at Junagadh B division police station.

Taral Bhatt’s dubious past

The Junagadh range inspector general (IG), Nilesh Jajadia, has launched another probe relating to PI Taral Bhatt.

In a case from June last year in Manavadar, a youth committed suicide in the taluka’s Dadva village, over which an abetment of suicide case was registered.

The then circle PI, Bhatt, was assigned the investigation in this case, and through the victim’s mobile phone and social media, he linked several rented bank accounts originating from Odisha, Assam, and Manipur-like states, including one from Surat.

Transactions worth ₹67 cr were tracked to these accounts.

The PI and his team busted a perpetrator, Vishal Tadaviya, infamous for cricket betting, sextortion, and blackmailing. Tadaviya’s operative, Manoj, alias Sunny, was also nabbed.

Their arrest opened the door to five to six more operatives from Telangana in this case.

However, further details in this case were not released.

It was found that several suspicious accounts were seized, and the spoils of this case could lead up to the Junagadh police extortion case.

Over this, the range IG reopened the case and handed it over to Keshod deputy superintendent of police (DySP), who will initiate the probe after returning from his leave.

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