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Indian politicians argue over colossal Bitcoin fraud



India's leading political parties have clashed over a multi-million dollar Bitcoin scam.

On Saturday, Indian National Congress (INC) spokesman Randeep Singh Surjewala accused the leaders of the Bhartiya Janta Party (BJP) in the southern state of Karnataka of covering up the fraud. The BJP has a majority in the state parliament and the INC is in the opposition.

Surjewala urged Prime Minister Basavaraj Bommai to identify the main actors in the fraud:

This is a case of intrigue, whitewash, concealment, and deception that smells like a deeply rooted conspiracy. It is India's largest "Bitcoin fraud" case. Rather than conduct a fair investigation, the Karnataka BJP leadership appears to be engaged in a cover-up.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has meanwhile also commented on the matter. His comments came on a press release after a number of congressional leaders alleged an attempt was made to drop the investigation. Modi is said to have previously asked Prime Minister Bommai not to respond to the request.

Misappropriated more than $ 1.3 million in 2019

The scam started in 2019, but the details didn't come to light until 2020. Back then, the police arrested a hacker named Srikrishna and his partners in a drug raid.

The subsequent investigation revealed that Srikrishna had hacked the Karnataka government's e-portal a year earlier and embezzled the equivalent of 1.3 million Indian rupees, according to ThePrint.

Not the first time for the hacker

Srikrishna also confessed to being the mastermind behind the hacking attack on the Bitfinex crypto exchange in 2016. In the process, 2,000 Bitcoins were stolen, as Surjewala announced in a statement. In January, police announced that they had seized 31 bitcoins from Srikrishna.

This announcement was later withdrawn. The police admitted that the bitcoins were never transferred from the wallet.

Surjewala announced the following:

How many Bitcoins and what value were transferred? Why are the Bengaluru police claiming that the 31 and 186 bitcoins allegedly transferred to the police wallet have been lost or turned out to be fake transactions?

Indian government wants to take "progressive" action on this matter

The Indian government wants to take “progressive” and “forward-looking” measures on this matter. She was the with cryptocurrency risks associated aware Asia News International (ANI) reported after a meeting on the future of crypto in the Asian country, chaired by Prime Minister modes. ANI tweeted:

It was firmly believed that attempts to mislead young people through non-transparent advertising must be stopped. There was also consensus that government moves in the field of cryptocurrencies and related issues will be progressive and forward-looking.

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