Bitcoin scam allegations boomerang on Cong .: CM

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Launching a counterattack on Congress that accused the BJP government of trying to protect prominent politicians in the alleged bitcoin scam, Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai said on Friday that such “baseless” allegations would make an impact. boomerang against the party and opposition leader Siddaramaiah.

Speaking to media in Bengaluru, the chief minister said the main defendant in the case, hacker Sri Krishna, could have been arrested in 2018, but the government led by Siddaramaiah failed to do so. It was the BJP government that then stopped the pivot, he argued.

“Am I now to say that the then Prime Minister was responsible for money laundering?” ” He asked. “Being in a position of responsibility as Chief Minister, I do not want to say anything that could lower the dignity of this post. He urged Mr. Siddaramaiah not to engage in “kite flying”.

Mr Bommai said the bitcoin problem which was part of money laundering became known when Sri Krishna was arrested in connection with a drug trafficking case in 2020. During the investigation, he was arrested. It turned out that he was also a hacker and was involved in money laundering with bitcoins, he said.

Prior to that, Sri Krishna was involved in the UB City-related vandalism case in Bengaluru in February 2018, when Congress headed by Mr. Siddaramaiah was in power. But the then congressional government had taken no action to arrest or question him despite there being clear evidence against him, the chief minister said.

“I urge Mr. Siddaramaiah to produce one iota of evidence to support his claims. If he does, we will conduct a full investigation, ”he said, while accusing Congress of trying to deliberately raise the issue to gain political clout in the polls. Reiterating that there was no question of protecting anyone, regardless of their influence, he said the investigation was proceeding in an efficient manner.

“We filed three separate cases against the accused in 2020 and filed indictments in each of them. We also referred the cases to ED on March 3, 2021 and requested assistance from the Interpol wing of the CBI on April 28, 2021, while another is under investigation by the CID, “said the chief minister.

“All of these things have come to light because of our war on drugs. Over the past two and a half years, we have recorded a series of cases and made the highest seizures, which is a record for the country, ”he said.

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