Bengaluru: The Criminal Investigation Department (CID) of Karnataka police has initiated a probe against some unnamed officers of the Central Crime Branch (CCB) for their alleged involvement in tampering with evidence in connection with a bitcoin scam case, people familiar with the development said.
CCB, which operates under the Bengaluru police, had earlier probed the bitcoin scam case when it first came to light in November 2020. CID, which took over the investigation in the case last month, has accused CCB officers of tampering with some digital evidence in connection with the case while it was in their custody.
A first information report (FIR) has been registered with Cottonpet police against some unnamed CCB officers under sections 204 (destruction of evidence) and 120B (criminal conspiracy) of the Indian Penal Code based on a complaint from CID deputy superintendent of police K Ravishankar.
“As part of the investigation, CID has questioned hacker Srikrishna Ramesh, also known as SriKi, [accused in the bitcoin scam case and out on bail] three to four times last week. He is being questioned regarding the investigation against him and to ascertain role of investigators in tampering with the evidence,” a senior police officer said, requesting anonymity.
The scam came to light after SriKi was arrested by CCB on November 18, 2020, in connection with a drug peddling case. He had allegedly used bitcoins on the dark web to purchase drugs from international dealers. Subsequent investigation by the CCB revealed that the software engineer-turned-hacker was involved in a series of online crimes.
In its complaint, CID has alleged that a digital forensic analysis report dated February 20 has revealed that devices — including two pen drives, two MacBook and a hard disk — seized from Srikrishna’s associates between November 9 and November 19, 2020 were tampered with.
“Each digital file has a hash value (a record of digital transaction or file movement). Whenever there is movement of any digital file, the hash value changes. In this case, the evidence in CCB custody has undergone such changes, implying possible movement of bitcoins,” a senior CID officer said, declining to be named. “We suspect that these devices were tampered with within the premises of the CCB office in Bengaluru between November 9 and December 12, 2020.”
