The Karnataka government on Monday constituted a Special Investigation Team (SIT) to reopen and probe an alleged Bitcoin scam that had surfaced during the previous BJP regime.
The SIT will be led by Manish Kharbikar, an Additional Director General of Police in the Criminal Investigation Department of the State, and will include officers from various departments with expertise in investigating cyber and cryptocurrency-related crimes, said Home Minister G. Parameshwara on Monday. The team could also take the help of technical experts since the matter relates to cybercrime, he added.
The Bitcoin scam had surfaced during the BJP’s regime and the Congress, which was then in Opposition, had accused the government of trying to cover up the scandal as it involved big names. The prime suspect, Srikrishna alias Sriki, was accused of hacking the State government’s e-procurement website and siphoning off over ₹11.5 crore.
He was arrested by Central Crime Branch, Bengaluru, in relation to a drug case where drugs were bought off darknet using crypto currency. Sriki allegedly confessed to hacking several international crypto currency exchanges, including Bitfinex. His confessions of hacking and stealing of crypto currencies totalled to several thousands of crore as on the day of his confession. Some of the stolen Bitcoins from Bitfinex that were blacklisted were allegedly moved to unknown destinations when Sriki was in custody, raising eyebrows.
The Home Minister on Monday said on Monday, “We had promised to the people of Karnataka that if we come to power we will reinvestigate Bitcoin scam. Accordingly we have taken a decision to hand it over to SIT we have constituted under the CID. We hope the committee will do justice.”
Bengaluru Police Commissioner B. Dayananda had earlier written a letter to the DG&IGP demanding a further probe into the case, as the case since it has national and international ramification. Since the Congress government assumed power in Karnataka in May, Mr. Parameshwara has repeatedly said that the Bitcoin scam would be re-examined.
Former Karnataka Chief Minister and BJP leader Basavaraj Bommai said that they welcome the move of SIT probe into the Bitcoin scam.
