BENGALURU: Four police officers, including a Deputy Superintendent of Police (DySP), have been dropped from the chargesheet despite the Special Investigation Team (SIT) claiming to have found evidence against them in the alleged Bitcoin illegal transfer case. The officers were excluded after the Karnataka Home Department denied prosecution sanction against them. The SIT, however, has filed a chargesheet against cyber expert KS Santosh Kumar.
The SIT of the Crime Investigation Department (CID) was probing allegations that notorious hacker Srikrishna Ramesh, alias Sriki, was illegally detained by police officers and coerced into transferring Bitcoins worth several crores of rupees.
The CID registered a case against former Central Crime Branch (CCB) officers Shridhar K Pujar, DM Prashanth Babu, Lakshmekanthayya and Chandradhara, and cyber expert Santosh Kumar. All five were arrested during the course of the investigation.
Recently, the SIT filed a chargesheet before the 1st Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Court against Kumar. However, the names of DySP Shridhar K Pujar and police inspectors Prashanth Babu, Lakshmekanthayya and Chandradhara have been dropped.
According to the chargesheet, the SIT found evidence, including witness statements and technical material, indicating that the four police officers had allegedly acted in collusion with Santosh Kumar in an attempt to transfer Bitcoins from hacker Sriki.
Home dept rejects SIT’s request
The Home department rejected the SIT’s request for prosecution sanction against the officers.
A source said SIT had submitted three separate requests to the Home department, seeking prosecution sanction against the four officers. Since all three requests were rejected, the chargesheet was filed only against the first accused, Santosh Kumar, owner of GCID Technologies. The chargesheet alleges that Kumar misused the cryptocurrency wallets of hacker Sriki and Robin Khandelwal. He is accused of illegally transferring Bitcoins worth several crores of rupees from Robin Khandelwal’s wallet.