BENGALURU: Officers investigating the 2020 bitcoin scam allegedly administered Alprazolam (Xanas - a psychotropic substance) drug to accused hacker Shrikrishna alias Shriki to transfer bitcoins to their wallets when he was in police custody.
This was disclosed in the objections to the bail petition filed by accused police inspector Lakshmikanthaiah G before a city court.
The drug was allegedly administered to Shriki without proper medical care and in collusion with other accused in the case. The accused police officers allegedly took control of the websites of some financial institutions by forcing Shriki to do so with the help of KA Santhosh Kumar, CEO of GCID Technologies Private Ltd.
Special Public Prosecutor (SPP) BN Jagadeesh stated that the petitioner and other police officers investigating the scam took law into their hands, made financial gains, and attempted to cause financial losses to other people as well.
The SPP informed the court that a mobile phone seized from accused Robin Khandelwal by the petitioner is the court’s property. But he took it to a private lab, GCID, where it was left unattended and subsequently used by several civilians for nearly two years. Upon insistence by the Special Investigation Team (SIT), the mobile phone was deliberately damaged to conceal facts before handing it over, the SPP said.
‘Investigating officers kept accused in illegal custody’
The SPP, representing the SIT and CID, submitted that the petitioner and other investigating officers kept Shriki and Robin in illegal custody in 2020 and allowed Santhosh to take control of Robin’s crypto wallet, email and bank accounts. They got the password changed, took complete control of personal access and transferred the cryptocurrencies from Robin’s account to Santhosh’s personal wallet.
Refuting the allegations, Lakshmikanthaiah claimed that he had conducted the investigation under the supervision of superior officers. However, the investigating officers have been made scapegoats for political vendetta. The report given by the Forensic Science Laboratory (FSL) states that the residues of the drug were not detected in Shriki’s blood and urine samples. This shows that the allegation of administering the drug is false, he said.
The SPP said the petitioner cannot claim that the acts done by him were under the supervision of the superior officers. The SIT is also looking into the role of the officers. The 51st Additional City Civil and Sessions Judge, Yashawanth Kumar, said there is no explanation from the petitioner on why he took Shriki and Robin to a private lab when there are cyber experts and FSL in the police department. The petitioner also has no explanation on handing over the seized mobile phone to Santhosh and why it was damaged. Therefore, at this stage, there are prima facie materials against him. The petitioner being an investigating officer, his act is all the more serious, the judge said while granting bail with some conditions.
