Lagatar24 Desk
Bengaluru, Nov 14: Karnataka chief minister Basavaraj Bommai on Sunday slammed the Congress party over a major Bitcoin scam and said that the issue had become bigger because the opposition did not probe the matter properly when it was in power.
“They (Congress) say that matter is from 2016. If there was anything related to Karnataka, then why the party in power did not notice it at that time. You have got to know about the accused, but did not do the proper enquiry”, said an official statement issued by the Chief Minister Office.
Slamming Congress leaders, including Randeep Surjewala, who have accused the BJP government of a cover-up in the multi-crore Bitcoin scam, Bommai said, “On the basis of the twitter handle, they are alleging the scam. Anyone can raise the issue on Twitter. If you are raising the issue, then you have to speak on the basis of evidence and witness”.
Earlier, on Saturday, he termed the allegations ‘politically motivated’ and asked the opposition to submit the related documents to investigation agencies.
We're fair, we investigated, we caught the culprit, we're the ones who referred it to ED & CBI. We have given it to CBI and Interpol. ED investigation is going on. We have given, whatever informed needed, to CBI. We will not spare anyone who is involved in the case: Karnataka CM pic.twitter.com/VoM74dqFoM
— ANI (@ANI) November 14, 2021
Meanwhile, State Minister K Sudhakar also called Congress the ‘Party of Corruption’ over the alleged bitcoin scam. He also said that the state has ordered an investigation in the matter and the investigation team has shared all information with Interpol, Enforcement Directorate (ED) and CBI.
Notably, Congress has alleged that politicians are involved in the scam after officials seized bitcoins worth Rs 9 crore from a city-based hacker, Srikrishna alias Sriki. Congress has also demanded an independent investigation into the matter by a Supreme Court-monitored SIT. Former party chief Rahul Gandhi said that the scam is big but the cover-up is much bigger. Interestingly, Srikrishna alias Sriki is also accused of hacking into government portals, sourcing drugs through the dark net and paying for it through cryptocurrency.
State Congress Chief DK Shivakumar also claimed that the scam took place on a large scale and name of police officers , political leaders and businessmen are involved in this scam.
