Karnataka Bitcoin scam: Siddaramaiah urges state govt to provide protection to hacker Sriki, suggests his life can be in danger

Karnataka Leader of the Opposition Siddaramaiah on Monday asked the state government to provide adequate protection to the accused in the alleged Bitcoin scam and hacker Srikrishna Ramesh alias Sriki, suggesting that his life could be in danger.

Siddaramaiah also termed the alleged Bitcoin scam as an organised 'White-collar crime'.

In a series of tweets, the former Karnataka CM reiterated that many influential people are said to be involved in the scam and stated that protecting the accused is necessary.

"I urge @CMofKarnataka to ensure adequate protection to Bitcoin scam kingpin Sri Krishna alias Sriki. Many influential people are said to be involved in the scam and hence protecting him becomes necessary," Siddaramaiah tweeted.

"The whole episode surrounding the investigation of Bitcoin scam has raised several doubts. The dramatic arrest of SriKrishna and his release on bail under suspicious circumstances raise questions about the conduct of police," his tweet read.

"It is said in the chargesheet that was filed last year that Sriki was a drug addict. It has to be observed that his father had written about the police giving drugs to Sriki. Is Sriki a drug addict? If yes, did police get him medically tested when he was arrested recently? If it is proved that he is a drug addict in the medical test, was he given necessary treatment? @CMofKarnataka and home minister should clarify about these?"

"Bitcoin scam is an organised 'White collar crime'. It is said that all the passwords of the Bitcoin accounts related to the scam are just in the memory of Sriki. It is not written anywhere. His life will be under risk for these known and several unknown reasons," his tweet added.

The 26-year-old accused in Karnataka's alleged Bitcoin scam Srikrishna Ramesh alias Sriki in his statement to the police had said he had twice hacked Bitfinex exchange during his stay in the Netherlands.

Meanwhile, Karnataka Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai had accused Congress of playing politics over the alleged Bitcoin scam and once again asked the opposition party to provide documents related to the matter, if any, to the investigating agencies.

State Minister K Sudhakar had also called Congress the "party of corruption" over the alleged bitcoin scam and had said that the state government has ordered an investigation in the matter and the investigating team has shared all information with Interpol, Enforcement Directorate (ED) and CBI.

( With inputs from ANI )