Bitcoin scam: SIT arrests crime branch officer, cyber expert

NT Correspondent

Bengaluru: In yet another development in the bitcoin scam probe, the Special Investigation Team (SIT) of the Karnataka Police arrested a former Bengaluru Crime Branch officer and a cyber expert for allegedly destroying the evidence regarding the scam.

Police Inspector Prashanth Babu and Cyber Expert Santosh were questioned by the officials on Wednesday following which they were arrested, sources from the police said.

The SIT produced both the accused before a court on Thursday which remanded them to six-day police custody for further questioning.

Sources further said that the SIT on Wednesday had registered a new FIR in which it was reportedly mentioned that they found Bitcoin transactions worth over Rs 3 lakh.

The SIT team had called three Deputy Superintendent-rank police officers for questioning.

The team had also summoned alleged hacker Srikrishna Ramesh for questioning.

It is said that at the early stage of the investigation in 2020-21, a sum of around Rs 3 lakh was found to have been transferred by an associate of Srikrishna to a cyber expert called in to help with the investigations.

The funds were allegedly transferred by a friend of Srikrishna, who was also his accountant, who dealt with crypto currency conversions for the hacker.

According to the police, Babu is considered to be a technical expert while the private cyber expert was one of the witnesses for the seizure of 31 Bitcoins from Srikrishna in January 2021.

Further details are awaited as the SIT has intensified the probe. The curious case of multi-crore bitcoin scam: In 2020, the Central Crime Branch had arrested Srikrishna Ramesh in Bengaluru on charges of selling drugs.

Later a probe revealed him to be a computer hacker and that he had siphoned off Rs 11.5 crore by hacking into online gaming companies and government web portals. It was said that the accused had allegedly converted the money into bitcoins and carried out drug peddling in Bengaluru.

Srikrishna was accused of siphoning off Rs 11 crore by hacking into online gaming companies and government web portals.

It was alleged that he had converted the money into bitcoins and carried out drug peddling in Bengaluru.

Several allegations surfaced in 2021 that using Srikrishna's hacking skills, the then ruling BJP leaders had minted huge money by "allowing" him to commit the scandal while in custody in 2020. The SIT team was formed under the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) in 2023 after Congress came to power in Karnataka.

The investigating officers (SIT) from CID found that the electronic and computer devices collected were tampered with at the premises of the CCB office in Bengaluru between November 9 and December 12, 2020.

In August 2023, the SIT filed an FIR at Cottonpet Police Station against unnamed CCB police officers for alleged tampering of devices that were seized as evidence from the accused in November 2020.

Meanwhile further development in the scam is likely to take a political twist ahead of the Lok Sabha elections, as the involvement of prominent politicians of the state is suspected in the scam.