New Delhi: Bharatiya Janata Party national president Jagat Prakash Nadda's Twitter account was hacked and later restored on Sunday. The account name was changed to "ICG OWNS INDIA".
Certain tweets inviting crypto donations for Ukraine aid also appeared on the profile, as seen in the screenshots.
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"Stand with the people of Ukraine now accepting cryptocurrency donations Bitcoin and Ethereum," a tweet on JP Nadda's Twitter account read.
Another tweet written in Hindi claimed that the account was not hacked and all donations would go to the Ukrainian government.
The tweets have now been deleted as the account was recovered.
Union Minister of State for Electronics & Technology said the ministry was aware of the hacking.
"We are aware of the hack and CERT (Computer Emergency Response Team) is looking into it": Rajeev Chandrasekhar, MoS Electronics & Technology told news agency ANI.
The tweets appear to be attempting a crypto fraud amid the ongoing Russia-Ukraine conflict. Currently, the Ukrainian forces are putting up fierce resistance as the more powerful Russian military attempts to capture the capital city Kyiv.
Notably, a similar attempt was made in December last year when Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Twitter account was briefly compromised.
As per the screenshots shared by Twitter users, the tweet put on by PM Modi's account had claimed that India had officially adopted bitcoin as legal tender, adding that the government bought bitcoins which would be distributed to the people.
"India has officially adopted bitcoin as legal tender. The government has officially bought 500 BTC and is distributing them to all residents of the country," a tweet on the Prime Minister's account had read.
Meanwhile, with respect to cryptocurrency, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman had recently informed that decision on banning or not banning will be taken based on feedback from consultations.
Replying to the general discussion on Union Budget, Nirmala Sitharaman said the government has sovereign right to tax profit made from cryptocurrency transactions, and the decision on banning or not banning will be taken based on feedback from consultations.
"I am not going to legalise it or ban it at this stage. Banning or not banning will come subsequently, when consultations give me input," she said, as quoted by news agency PTI.
(With Agency Inputs)