Special Investigation Team to file chargesheet in crypto scam

NT Correspondent

Bengaluru: The Special Investigation Team (SIT) of the Karnataka Crime Investigation Department (CID) is set to file a chargesheet in the 2017 cryptocurrency hacking case.

It is worth noting that despite the arrest of a 29-year-old hacker and the prime accused in the case, Srikrishna Ramesh alias Sriki in 2020.

According to sources, the CID SIT will soon file a chargesheet in the case of the hacking of Unocoin Technologies Private Limited in which 60.6 Bitcoins were allegedly stolen in 2017.

Previously the case was investigated by the Bengaluru Central Crime Branch (CCB) team, but no charge sheet was filed and the case had remained "unresolved" until it was handed over to the CID by the Congress government in Karnataka.

The CID SIT, constituted in June 2023 to look at alleged corruption in the handling of cases against Srikrishna, found that the CCB did not recover any stolen Bitcoin from the hacker, but instead used other mechanisms to resolve the hacking cases.

In the Unocoin case, a director of the cryptocurrency exchange is alleged to have paid Rs 7 lakh to a Bengaluru police officer to recover the stolen Bitcoins after Sriki’s arrest, the CID SIT has found.

"There is however no recovery of Bitcoin from the hacker shown in the investigation records from the 2020-21 period. The Tumkur case is being treated as unresolved and the SIT will file a chargesheet," police sources said.

The Bitcoin scam from the tenure of the BJP in Karnataka involves allegations of police grabbing of a large cache of the cryptocurrency that was found in the crypto wallets of the hacker Srikrishna in 2020.

The SIT has stated in court arguments in recent weeks that the Bitcoins in Sriki’s possession were illegally accessed by the police while he was in their custody between November 2020 and January 2021.

Sriki and his accountant Robin Khandelwal were initially arrested by the crime branch police in November 2020 on charges of buying drugs over the darknet using Bitcoin.

This eventually led to the cracking of several cyber crimes in Karnataka involving Srikrishna Ramesh, including a Rs 11.5 crore heist from the Karnataka e-governance cell during July-August 2019.

At the time of the hacker’s arrest, the value of one Bitcoin was in the range of $25,000 (around Rs 20 lakh) which soared to $60,000 (around Rs 50 lakh) by April 2021.