Bengaluru, 14 May

Special Investigation Team (SIT) probing the bitcoin scam case has issued a fresh notice to IGP Sandeep Patil, urging him to appear for questioning. Despite a previous notice, Patil failed to attend the scheduled hearing, prompting the SIT to reissue the summons and seek an explanation for his absence.

Sandeep Patil, who formerly served as the CCB chief during the period when the bitcoin scam occurred, was previously interrogated by the SIT in February. The questioning lasted for approximately three hours, during which Patil provided information relevant to the investigation.

The case, stemming from a complaint filed by Unocoin Technologies co-founder Harish BV in 2017, involves the theft of Rs 1.14 crore worth of Bitcoins. The incident led to the arrest of alleged hacker Srikrishna Ramesh, also known as Sriki, by Karnataka Police’s Criminal Investigation Department (CID) SIT on 7 May.

Investigations revealed that a director of the cryptocurrency exchange allegedly paid Rs 7 lakh to a Bengaluru police officer to recover the stolen Bitcoins following Sriki’s initial arrest. Subsequently, four former Central Crime Branch (CCB) officials were implicated in the case for their alleged involvement in attempting to hack various cryptocurrency wallets, payment gateways, and stock exchange websites with Sriki's assistance. Salar News