The Enforcement Directorate (ED) investigation into an 11-month-old case involving a cryptocurrency hacker in Bengaluru is now turning into a political blame game in Karnataka, with the opposition ruling BJP and officials involved in the scam and He is accusing the investigating agencies of saving him. On November 18, 2020, Central Crime Branch (CCB) officials seized bitcoins worth Rs 9 crore from a Bengaluru-based hacker Srikrishna Ramesh, who hacked the accounts of people working in the cryptocurrency business.
It is also being probed for allegedly hacking the portal of Karnataka government’s e-governance center and misappropriating over Rs 11.55 crore, India Today quoted sources as saying. He has also been accused of drug trading through the dark-web.
While the CBI is yet to take up the matter, the ED has been probing Srikrishna in the money laundering case since last year. Now this case has now created an uproar in Karnataka especially among politicians and police officers. Leader of Opposition Siddaramaiah alleged a serious conspiracy in this on social media.
Leader of Opposition in Karnataka Assembly, Siddaramaiah on Wednesday again let the “Bitcoin scam” genie out of the bottle and accused the BJP government of suppressing it.
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He tweeted, “Knowledge of influential politicians from Karnataka being involved in drugs and bitcoin scam. Worryingly, investigating officers are trying to close the case to help those politicians. Probe to BJP Govt. They should not use their power to divert. They should ensure that the guilty are punished.” CM Bommai and Home Minister Araga Gyanendra have denied Siddaramaiah’s allegations.
An angry Bommai told the media in Bengaluru on Friday, “There is no question of hiding anything or anyone. No matter how influential a person may be, if Siddaramaiah can give a little bit of evidence to support his claim, We will investigate. We handed over the bitcoin and money laundering cases to the ED in March 2021 and the hacking cases to the Interpol wing of the CBI in April 2021, while our crime branch is probing the drugs case.”
What is bitcoin scam?
In November 2020, Bengaluru’s Central Crime Branch (CCB) police arrested Srikrishna and his associates in a narcotics case. Shriki was accused of using bitcoin to buy drugs and sell them to his high profile clients via the darknet.
Further investigation revealed that Srikrishna was also a hacker, involved in cyber crimes such as ransomware attacks, hacking into bitcoin exchanges, robbing cryptocurrencies, money laundering and cyber fraud.
Most shocking was that in 2019, he was involved in an alleged hacking of the Karnataka government’s e-procurement portal, following which money was illegally diverted to unrelated accounts through unauthorized transactions.
The alleged hacking was first detected in July 2019 by a financial advisor, SK Shailaja. While verifying the Earnest Money Deposit (EMD) refund, he came to know of unauthorized fund transfer of Rs 7.37 crore, following which a complaint was filed with the CID.
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Investigation revealed that Rs 1.05 crore was illegally transferred to a firm in Uttar Pradesh, in total, Rs 11.55 crore was diverted from Karnataka government.
It was only in November 2020 that when Srikrishna was arrested in a narcotics case, the police came to know that he was actually the mastermind behind the alleged hacking.
The ED was approached in March 2021 to probe the money laundering allegations. In August, the ED said in a press release that Rs 1.44 crore lying in 14 bank accounts was provisionally attached as part of its probe into the case.
Who is Shri Krishna aka Shriki?
A hacker accused of several cybercrime and drug peddling charges, Srikrishna first came under the police radar in 2015. A senior police officer already posted in the CID told ThePrint, “He was arrested in 2015 in a bank account hacking case and was granted bail soon after. His spirits grew even more.”
In February 2018, Srikrishna was named as one of the accused in a pub dispute case involving Mohammad Nalapad Haris, the Shantinagar MLA and son of Congress leader NA Haris.
Srikrishna was charged with attempt to murder as one of Nalapada’s associates, but he escaped. While the rest of the accused went to jail, he was absconding till Sri Krishna got anticipatory bail. The police could not trace him as he was not using the mobile.
Srikrishna was arrested in 2020 for opening Pandora’s box of fake cybercrimes when he dodged the police in a 2018 pub brawl case.
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