Probe into cryptocurrency scam to be revived

NT Correspondent

Bengaluru: Following a recent announcement made by Home Minister G Parameshwara Rao, probe into the cryptocurrency scam is likely to be revived. According to police sources, Bengaluru Police Commissioner B Dayananda has written to the State Criminal Investigation Department (CID) to resume further investigation into the Bitcoin scam that surfaced in the State during the BJP regime.

The Enforcement Directorate official who had previously investigated suspected money laundering involved in the hacking cases against Srikrishna Ramesh alias Sriki, was recently posted to Bengaluru city by the state government.

The hacker was reportedly linked to the sons of several top politicians in Karnataka. The Bengaluru Central Crime Branch (CCB) in 2020 had stumbled upon a large quantity of Bitcoin following Sriki’s arrest in a case of procuring drugs over the Darknet using cryptocurrency.

The hacker reportedly claimed to have acquired a large amount of Bitcoin by hacking exchanges. The CCB probe initially claimed to have recovered 31 bitcoins worth Rs 9 crore from the hacker, but the police later claimed to have been duped by the hacker into believing that the cryptocurrency at an exchange was transferred to an online seizure wallet created by the police to hold the recovered bitcoins. Sriki was arrested in November 2020 following which there was a turf fight between the CID and CCB for his custody and the materials seized from the suspect.

The CID and the Directorate of Enforcement (ED), which also looked at the eprocurement cell hacking case, were able to recover only a small portion of the Rs 11.5 crore stolen funds.

The cryptocurrency was trading at over $50,000 per Bitcoin when Sriki was arrested in 2020. Following investigations, the CID filed a chargesheet on Dec 15, 2021 against Sriki and 17 others for the 2019 heist at the state e-governance cell.

It involved charges of theft, receiving stolen property, disposal of stolen property, causing disappearance of evidence, destruction of evidence, and criminal acts against Srikrishna Ramesh, his associates Sunish Hegde, a civil contractor, Hemanth Mudappa, a racer, and 15 others.