Despite making a public announcement in January 2021 it seized 31 Bitcoins worth Rs 9 crore from a hacker arrested in November 2020, the Bengaluru police have not shown the seizure in a chargesheet filed the following month.
One of the primary reasons for a cloud of suspicion of corruption around cases involving the hacker — which has now become a source of concern for the BJP government in Karnataka —is the disappearance of these 31 Bitcoins.
The Bengaluru Central Crime Branch police had obtained permission from the state Chief Secretary to create an e-wallet and use experts from the Indian Institute of Science to oversee the seizure.
In January 2021 when Union Home Minister Amit Shah visited Bengaluru to launch a slew of police projects in Karnataka, the police held an exhibition to showcase the arrest of Srikrishna alias Sriki.
The charge sheet filed on February 22 only shows seizure of Apple Macbooks, iphones and other computer devices belonging to the hacker and four of his associates.
When we looked at the wallet again, there were over 180 coins and we realised he was falsely claiming possession of coins in a Bitcoin exchange,” a police source said.
A senior police officer said the Karnataka police does not have any stipulated procedural guidelines for seizure of crypto currencies if they are found in the course of crime investigations.
One of the issues in the case of Srikrishna was that his knowledge of computer systems and hacking was much higher than that of police officials and others which led to the police being easily misled, the sources said.
The disappearance of the 31 Bitcoins claimed to have been seized by the police and hacker’s claim of stealing over 5,000 Bitcoins through the hacking of Bitcoin exchanges has raised suspicion of corruption in the handling of the international hacker’s case.