A drug bust in Bengaluru opens a can of bitcoins
The Hindu
Ramesh alias SriKi, a 26-year-old hacker from Bengaluru, is at the centre of a bitcoin corruption storm in Karnataka that has emerged as a serious headache for the Basavaraj Bommai government. K.V. Aditya Bharadwaj profiles the young man’s unquenchable thirst for chasing bitcoins, drugs and trouble
Self-proclaimed hacker Sri Krishna’s capacity to churn political waters belies his youth. At the age of 26, the computer science graduate from Bengaluru — who was where transactions were made in cryptocurrency — has become the centre of an alleged bitcoin scam. It has shaken the Basavaraj Bommai-led Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government after he took charge as Chief Minister in July.
Questions have been raised after the Leader of Opposition and former Chief Minister Siddaramaiah claimed that “influential Karnataka politicians” are involved in the drug and cryptocurrency scam. Political circles were abuzz with rumours of bitcoins belonging to Sri Krishna, or SriKi as he is called, disappearing while he was in custody. But the answers are proving to be elusive, the trail as shadowy as the world of cryptocurrency.