The Special Investigation Team (SIT) of the Criminal Investigation Department (CID), which is probing the alleged bitcoin scam, is in touch with over 30 foreign-based bitcoin exchanges in a bid to collect evidence on the movement of cryptocurrencies allegedly moved by hacker Srikrishna Ramesh aka Sriki.
Sriki, arrested in a darknet drugs case in 2020 by the Central Crime Branch (CCB) of Bengaluru police, turned out to be a hacker who claimed to have stolen bitcoins. He confessed to hacking the Bitfinex exchange in one of the biggest cryptocurrency heists in the world. A few officials allegedly forced Sriki to transfer the stolen bitcoins to benami accounts, which were later encashed. There have been allegations that certain politicians were among the beneficiaries of this scam, prompting Congress to set up the SIT to probe the case.
Sources close to Sriki claim that he was forced to transfer bitcoins while he was in judicial custody and lodged in Parappana Agrahara Central prison. There were alerts online of the stolen and blacklisted bitcoins from Bitfinex being moved while he was in custody.
