Opposition Steps Up Pressure on Hackers’ Crypto ‘Ties’, Karnataka Government Prepares to Hand Over to CID

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The KARNATAKA government is likely to hand over investigations into the “illegal activities” of a 25-year-old hacker, who was arrested in a drug case last year, to the Criminal Investigation Department of the police as a result of the political heat of the opposition over its alleged cryptocurrency transactions linked to “influential politicians.”

State Police Chief Praveen Sood polled the CID on the transfer of nearly five hacking cases involving Srikrishna Ramesh aka Sriki, which had been under investigation by police in Bengaluru since 2018, reported indicated sources. “The documents of the case have not yet been transferred,” they said.

The CID is already investigating two cases of computer hacking linked to Srikrishna and his associates: a case in 2019 of a burglary of Rs 11.5 crore of the electronic procurement unit of the state’s electronic governance unit and an attempted ransomware attack in 2020 on Adani’s website. Udupi Power Corporation Ltd.

Of the seven cases Srikrishna has been linked to since his arrest, police have filed indictments in three while investigations are ongoing in four. He is currently on bail in all cases.

Over the past week, these cases made headlines again after the opposition Congress claimed the police were gentle with Srikrishna and his associates, and alleged that some state BJP leaders had took advantage of the hacker’s access to cryptocurrency.

On October 27, ex-CM Siddaramaiah tweeted: “There is information about the involvement of influential Karnataka politicians in the drugs and bitcoin scam. It is worrying that investigators are trying to close the case to help these politicians. “

Srikrishna, a young man from Bengaluru who took a computer course in the Netherlands around 2014, is considered even in police circles as a “brilliant hacker”. His arrest in Bengaluru in November 2020 in a case of buying drugs with Bitcoins on the Darknet, along with a few associates from Bengaluru, exposed a range of hacking crimes.

Srikrishna’s drug lawyer, DS Sudhanva, argued during his bail hearing that his client was “innocent” and was the subject of a “false complaint”.

Contacted on Thursday, Sudhanva said he no longer represented Srikrishna but only some of his associates. Srikrishna has changed lawyers several times over the past two years, sources said. “We don’t know why these cases are reappearing. We are not able to understand it, ”Sudhanva said.

Srikrishna is the son of a chartered accountant while some of his close associates are the son of a doctor, a law student and two sons of a former bank manager, one of whom was studying in the UK.

In January 2021, when Union Home Minister Amit Shah visited Bengaluru, police held an exhibition to showcase their cutting edge work. One of the exhibits was the arrest of Srikrishna. A police statement with a photo of Srikrishna said: “3 Bitcoin exchanges and 10 poker websites hacked. Bengaluru police have so far seized Rs 9 crore in Bitcoins. “

A Bitcoin is currently valued at over $ 62,000 or close to Rs 46 lakh.

However, according to law enforcement sources, it was later found that the hacker had “misled those responsible for the crime branch into believing that he had access to Bitcoins which were in fact in an exchange and not in his possession, which led to claim the recovery of Bitcoins from him ”. The current controversy arose out of claims made by the accused during investigations that he illegally accessed over 5,000 Bitcoins and other cryptocurrencies. “Who owns these Bitcoins now?” Did they transfer it to the accounts of investigative agencies? Or are they ignorant? ‘ Siddaramaiah said.

A police officer confirmed that they were unable to find the stolen Bitcoins. “He (Srikrishna) says he accessed Bitcoins by hacking. This is mentioned in the invoice. But it is not known where the Bitcoins are currently, ”said law enforcement sources. Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai alleged that it was the failure of Congress when he was in power between 2013 and 2018 that led to the growth of the hacker’s business.

“Srikrishna was named an accused in a recorded case… in February 2018. Although the other accused have been arrested, he has been allowed to get early bail. Had he been arrested and investigated, his other activities would have come to light. Why did they let him go? said Bommai.

Warning that allegations against the BJP government could backfire on Congress, Bommai said: “We referred the matter to the Law Enforcement Directorate in March of this year and to the CBI Interpol Branch in April. . ” The ED is currently investigating the hacker for alleged money laundering.

According to sources, Srikrishna was involved in collecting Bitcoins from an early age. “He saw value in it a long time ago when cryptocurrency got cheap. He collected Bitcoin, Ether and other cryptocurrencies when they cost little, ”the sources said. following a fight in a pub in Bangalore.

In the drug case, he is accused of transferring funds to a friend, Robin Khandelwal, who ran a Bitcoin trading service, in order to buy drugs on the Darknet. An ongoing CID cyber cell investigation at the time into the hack of an Rs 11.5 crore electronic procurement cell in August 2019 also uncovered technical evidence “linking” Srikrishna to the crime. , sources said.

Police said Khandelwal’s Bitcoin trading service was used by Srikrishna to sell cryptocurrency and channel funds to beneficiaries via the hawala route – as well as to purchase cryptocurrency. Khandelwal was named in all three police indictments.

Srikrishna’s hacking skills have reportedly been used by affluent Bangalore gangs, including relatives and relatives of political leaders, to commit crimes online since around 2015, according to law enforcement sources. “He was held captive by a gang and forced to earn money for them,” police sources said.

There are two pending cases in Bangalore concerning associates of Srikrishna who beat his friends in an attempt to find the hacker. “On one occasion Sriki broke a limb while jumping from a first floor apartment to escape the gang,” sources said.

The children of several politicians crossing party lines in Karnataka are known to have been associated with Srikrishna. According to court records, Srikrishna was often lodged in five-star hotels by well-to-do business associates.

One of the cases Srikrishna has been linked to is the alleged hacking of KYC information from customers of gaming company Baazi Networks in 2018. A complaint was filed in December 2018 by company owner Puneet Singh, who said that hackers had illegally transferred Rs. 70 lakh from the company to the account of a company called Infizy IT Solutions. Srikrishna has been named in this case but no indictment has yet been filed.

In another case, the director of online games company Pacific Gaming, Arvind Balakrishna, alleged that Srikrishna and his associates stole data from two online gaming brands operated by the company – Casino 143 and Poker Saint – causing huge losses.

CID cybercrime sources said notices were also issued summoning Srikrishna for his participation in the e-procurement hack investigations and the alleged ransomware attack on the utility company.

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