- India’s leading political parties are disputing over a scam involving Bitcoin.
- Indian National Congress accused the opposition party Bhartiya Janta Party.
India’s leading political parties are disputing over a multi-million dollar scam involving Bitcoin in the southern state of Karnataka following the popularity of the top cryptocurrency in the country.
On November 13, Randeep Singh Surjewala, a spokesperson of the Indian National Congress (INC), accused the opposition party Bhartiya Janta Party (BJP) government of Karnataka of covering up the country’s biggest Bitcoin (BTC) scam. In addition, the political party also asked Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai to disclose the names of everyone involved in the fraud.
During the press conference, Randeep Singh Surjewala says,
This is a case of intrigue, whitewash, concealment, and deception smack of a deep-rooted conspiracy. It is India’s biggest-ever ‘Bitcoin Scam Cover Up’ under the Karnataka BJP government. Instead of conducting a fair investigation, the BJP Government of Karnataka appears to be preoccupied with a cover-up.
Moreover, Surjewala statement follows the rumors about Prime Minister Narendra Modi trying to drop the investigation, telling Bommai not to worry about the problem.
Furthermore, Karnataka’s former chief minister and senior leader of Congress Siddaramaiah also tweeted on November 12.
Instead of asking @CMofKarnataka to investigate & prove the innocence, how is it correct for @PMOIndia to tell him to ignore the allegations?Can Prime Minister unilaterally decide what he wants?#Bitcoin pic.twitter.com/9sc360CD9M
— Siddaramaiah (@siddaramaiah) November 12, 2021
Expanding further, Siddaramaiah adds that they don’t know if Bommai is involved in the Bitcoin scam or not. Thus, all they are asking is to investigate it properly and punish the actors behind the scam. Adding to this, he asked why Prime Minister Narendra Modi requested the CM to ignore the issue.
Note that the scam happened back in 2019. However, the news just came to light a year ago after Bengaluru’s Central Crime Branch police caught a hacker named Srikrishna and his partners in a narcotics case.