BENGALURU: The Bitcoin scam has a shocking revelation. Police Inspector Prashanth Babu DM, who was the head of the Technical Support Centre (TSC) of the Central Crime Branch (CCB) at Adugodi in November 2020, had allegedly transferred 4,000 bitcoins worth Rs 850 crore seized from the prime accused in the scam, Sriki aka Srikrishna, to his personal computer without the court’s permission. Babu had allegedly transferred the contents of two Apple MacBooks, which were sealed after seizing them from Sriki.
It has also been revealed that after transferring the contents to his personal computer, and on learning that the case was registered by the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) in 2023, Babu had wiped off all the contents from his personal computer. These were used to download the data from the seized gadgets, including the software for decoding, the CID stated in its objections before the High Court of Karnataka in response to Babu’s anticipatory bail petition.
In the objections filed to Babu’s bail application, special public prosecutor (SPP) Prasanna Kumar P said the statement of BS Gagan Jain, a private cyber expert, was recorded before the magistrate under Section 164 of CrPC on March 30, 2024, and indicated that the gadgets contained about 4000 bitcoins when Babu transferred them to his personal computer.
The price of one bitcoin in November 2020 was about $29,000 — approximately Rs 21.20 lakh. Thus, it is stated that the total value of bitcoins handled by Babu was about Rs 850 crores, Kumar stated.
The objections also revealed that Jain’s statement was supported by the Cyber Forensic Analysis Report obtained from the Centre for Development of Advance Computing (C-DAC) on May 21, 2024, which had analysed the gadgets seized in the case. Report indicated that the contents of MacBooks seized from Sriki in 2020, were transferred to Babu’s PC, who in connivance with other accused had installed a crypto hardware wallet, electrum wallet applications and data wiping applications.
The CID stated in its objections that from the C-DAC report it was clear that Babu on learning about CID registering the crime in 2023, had wiped off all the contents in his personal computer which was used to download the data from the seized gadgets, including the software for decoding.
The statement of Jain made under Section 164 of CrPC cannot be brushed aside or ignored lightly, Justice MG Uma noted while hearing the objections to Babu’s bail petition.
She noted that as per the C-DAC report, the text file was located in the wallet details folder containing the Bitcoins and was addressed in Babu’s name. Besides, the user name for the application data was Babu’s.
The data wiping tool was also found to have been installed and was being used for the deletion of files and folders from the computer. The wiping technique prevents forensic tools from recovering the deleted contents by the mechanism of overwriting the data with junk. The application data was said to be located under the user name of Babu, the judge noted.
Justice Uma said the report referred to 16 files in the category of deleted directory, the source of which finds the user name of Babu.
When prima facie materials are available to suggest meddling with the seized electronic devices, Babu being the head of TSC to whom the gadgets in sealed condition were entrusted, is liable to give a reasonable explanation. But he maintained that he is not aware of the handling of cryptocurrency investigation, black chain technology or various software applications, and had blindly relied on private cyber experts, which is hard to believe at this stage. He is required for interrogation by the SIT and hence not entitled for anticipatory bail, the judge said.
Interestingly, all this came about after Babu filed a complaint against Gagan Jain of Cyber Safe Company and Santhosh Kumar of GCID company with the Special Investigation Team in January 2024, accusing them of criminal breach of trust and cheating. Jain and Santhosh Kumar were the private technical experts aiding Babu. Following Babu’s complaint, a crime was registered against the two on January 24, 2024, and Jain’s statement was recorded before the magistrate, which came with the startling revelations.