Indian cop arrested for stealing over $200K in Bitcoin tied to a scam probe

An
Indian
police
officer
has
been
arrested
for
siphoning
off
INR
1.8
crores
worth
of
Bitcoin,
approximately
$216,000,
related
to
a
crypto
scam
investigation.

Per
a

local
report,
Chandrahar
SR,
a
former
police
inspector
with
the
Central
Crime
Branch
(CCB),
illegally
accessed
the
Bitcoin
wallet
of
a
hacker,
which
was
evidence
in
an
ongoing
investigation.

The
crypto
scam
being
investigated
dates
back
to
2017.

Srikrishna
Ramesh,
a
hacker,
and
his
associate
Robin
Khandelwal
were
the
masterminds
behind
the
scam.
The
duo
hacked
cryptocurrency
exchanges
like
Bitfinex,
Unocoin,
and
other
online
platforms
and
made
approximately
INR
5.5
crore
($660,000)
in
funds
via
their
operations.

Ramesh
then
tried
to
launder
the
stolen
funds
via
Khandelwal
using
Bitcoin
but
was
ultimately
arrested
in
2020.

The
Crime
Branch
had
initially
reported
that
the
Bitcoins
could
not
be
recovered,

prompting
an
investigation
by
a
Special
Investigation
Team
(SIT).
Investigators
had
blamed
Ramesh
for
manipulating
“the
Bitcoin
core
application”
to
mislead
the
investigation.

Chandrahar,
who
was
one
of
the
crime
branch
officers
involved
in
the
investigation,
is
now
being
accused
of
accessing
the
hacker’s
wallet
and
stealing
Bitcoin.
The
SIT
alleges
he
had
taken
Khandelwal
into
custody
and
coerced
him
to
transfer
the
funds.

Further,
the
accused
destroyed
all
evidence
related
to
the
transactions.

According
to
the
FIR
filed
by
the
SIT,
Chandradhar,
along
with
two
other
CCB
officers,
collaborated
with
Santosh
Kumar,
a
private
cyber
expert,
to
access
the
wallet
in
question.

The
accused
accessed
the
Bitcoin
wallet
at
Kumar’s
Bengaluru
office
between
December
30,
2020,
and
January
6,
2021.

Chandrahar,
along
with
Kumar
and
the
other
officers,
have
all
been
charged
with
illegal
confinement,
breach
of
trust
by
a
public
servant,
and
destruction
of
evidence
related
to
the
Bitcoin
scam.

Chanrahar
had
been
evading
law
enforcement
since
he
was
summoned
for
questioning.
He
was
arrested
by
the
SIT
from
his
residence
in
North
Bengaluru.

Besides
Chandrahar,
two
other
unnamed
police
officers
have
also
been
arrested
in
relation
to
the
Bitcoin
scam
investigation.

India
has
seen
an

uptick
in
activity
when
it
comes
to
scams
and
frauds.
This
has
prompted
regulators
to

tighten
their
oversight
of
the
nation’s
crypto
sector.