Karnataka Govt Orders SIT Probe Into Bitcoin Scam

The media reported that the accused had allegedly siphoned off Rs 11.5 crore by hacking the state government’s e-portal website.

Karnataka government on Monday formed a Special Investigation Team (SIT) to investigate the alleged Bitcoin scam. Karnataka Home Minister Dr G Parameshwara said Additional Director General of Police (ADGP) Manish Karbikar will lead the probe. This comes after Bengaluru Police Commissioner B Dayananda’s letter to the DG demanding a further probe into the case by experts. He had demanded a special probe as the case involves an elaborate investigation into cybercrime. Earlier, Congress had demanded a judicial probe into the case.

Parameshwara said he hopes the committee will do justice in investigating the entire matter related to the Bitcoin scam.

The scam had surfaced earlier when the Bharatiya Janata Party government led by Basavaraj Bommai was in power. The Congress Party has said many BJP leaders are involved in the case.

The media reported that the accused had allegedly siphoned off Rs 11.5 crore by hacking the state government’s e-portal website. One of the several accused people, Srikrishna Ramesh alias Sriki, was also arrested earlier on November 18, 2020, but he was released on bail later, reported NewsNine. The Central Crime Branch (CCB) had arrested him in a case related to drug peddling.

What Is Bitcoin Scam?

Accused Ramesh had allegedly purchased drugs from international dealers with the help of Bitcoins on the dark web. During the interrogation, CCB found that the software engineer, who had turned to hacking practices, was involved in multiple cybercrimes, reported HindustanTimes.

He was facing allegations of hacking several websites to steal data by locking their owners and publishers out of them. Ramesh said he used to develop ‘Mirror’ sites and fake payment links resembling real ones in order to access credit card and debit card information to steal money from people.

Earlier, the police said Ramesh stole money from the e-procurement cell of the Karnataka e-governance centre also. However, in most cases, he used Bitcoins exchanges to carry out hackings.

As mentioned earlier, the Congress Party had said the BJP was engaged in protecting the hacker involved in the cryptocurrency case. But former Chief Miniter Basavaraj Bommai rejected all the charges.

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