After a few reports suggested that the Karnataka government is going to set up a Special Investigation Team (SIT) to probe Bitcoin and other cases during the previous BJP rule, state home minister G Parameshwara clarified that they do not have any plans to form a SIT. However, he confirmed that the Karnataka government is going to strictly investigate the alleged scams during the previous government.
Speaking to news agency ANI on Tuesday, G Parameshwara said, “I did not say that we are going to form an SIT to investigate the Bitcoin scam. We want the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) to take up the case and a discussion regarding the same is going on. But we will re-investigate the case and expose those involved in the Bitcoin scam.” He also stressed that the government is examining the corruption charges at various departments and assured that a probe will be initiated against all the allegations.
What is Bitcoin scam?
Srikrishna, aka Sriki, was arrested by the Central Crime Branch (CCB) police on November 18, 2020, in a drug peddling case. He had allegedly bought drugs from international dealers using bitcoins on the dark web. In the interrogation that followed, CCB found that the software engineer turned hacker was also involved in a series of online crimes.
He allegedly hacked into websites to steal their data and locked the owners out of it. He would then demand payment in bitcoins to unlock the websites. He also confessed to creating ‘mirror’ sites, or fake payment portals that mimicked real ones, to steal credit or debit card information to steal money.
The police also said that he agreed to steal Rs. 11.5 crore from the e-procurement cell of the Karnataka e-governance centre, apart from hacking into some Bitcoin exchanges. The Congress, which was in opposition then alleged that the BJP was protecting the hacker involved in the cryptocurrency case. However, erstwhile CM Basavaraj Bommai had denied all the charges and clarified that fair investigation was going on in the case.
