BENGALURU: The Special Investigation Team (SIT) of the Criminal Investigation Department (CID), which is probing the multi-crore bitcoin scam, has arrested two persons, including a police inspector, who was part of the earlier probe that was carried out by the Central Crime Branch (CCB), Bengaluru.
The duo was arrested on Wednesday following a complaint filed by the current investigation officer K Ravishankar with the Cyber Crime police station, CID. Inspector DM Prashanth Babu and a private cyber expert, KS Santhosh Kumar, were remanded to police custody by the jurisdictional court on Thursday, DG & IGP Alok Mohan told reporters.
Babu is currently posted at the Bengaluru Police Commissionerate while Kumar runs a private firm in HSR Layout. Ravishankar had filed a complaint against four police inspectors, including Babu, and Kumar. Kumar is accused number one while Babu is accused number four. The five have been charged with destroying of evidence (IPC 201), criminal breach of trust by a public servant (IPC 409) and destruction of documents (IPC 204) along with other sections of the IPC. The five have also been booked under the Information Technology Act.
During the probe, it was found that around Rs 3 lakh was transferred to the account of a private cyber expert who was roped in to help with the investigations. The money was allegedly transferred by the associate of main accused, hacker Srikrishna Ramesh alias Sriki. SIT officers are investigating if Kumar was the one who received the monetary benefits.
In August 2023, the SIT filed a complaint with Cottonpet police station against a few unnamed CCB officials on charges of tampering with electronic devices that were seized from Sriki and his associates. The devices were allegedly tampered with on the CCB office premises. Two months after filing the complaint, SIT investigators had searched the premises of the four police inspectors and two cyber experts, including Kumar.
The SIT was formed in 2023 following allegations of involvement of politicians and police officers in the scam. The main accused, Sriki and his associate were arrested by the CCB in 2020 for allegedly purchasing narcotics on the darknet using bitcoins.