Bitcoin scam: SIT arrests Robin Kandelwal, invokes KCOCA

SIT arrests Robin Khandelwal in bitcoin scam linked to hacker Sriki, both booked under Karnataka Organised Crime Act.

The Special Investigation Team of the Criminal Investigation Department, probing the alleged bitcoin scam, has arrested Robin Khandelwal in a case registered at New Extension police station in Tumakuru. He is said to be a close associate of hacker Srikrishna Ramesh alias Sriki, the key accused in the alleged scam.

Sources in the SIT said the sleuths picked him up from a North Indian State. Sriki was arrested from a plush hotel in Ganganagar, Bengaluru, on May 7. He is now in judicial custody.

Meanwhile, the SIT has now booked accused Khandelwal and hacker Sriki under the draconian Karnataka Control of Organised Crime Act 2000. The duo has cases of hacking government websites and hacking and stealing bitcoins in different police stations in Karnataka. 

In 2017, based on a complaint filed by Harish B.V., Director of Unocoin Technologies Private Limited, a case was registered against unknown persons. The complaint alleged that some unknown persons hacked into the database of the company and stole 60.6 bitcoins. One coin was worth ₹1,67,481 when they were stolen. 

The sources in the SIT said that after Sriki stole the coins, Khandelwal converted them into money. The accused, Khandelwal, was allegedly converting, laundering, and trading cryptocurrency for Sriki for a long time after they came into contact through an internet platform. Sources say that Khandelwal also transferred money to the accounts of Sriki’s friends.