It is claimed that Duo, with the help of hacker Sriki, managed to hack numerous websites and crypto wallets.
BENGALURU: Sathvik V and Harish BV, directors of Unocoin Technologies Private Ltd., an online cryptocurrency trading platform, have been served a notice by the Special Investigation Team (SIT) investigating the multi-crore bitcoin scam. In 2020, the Cottonpet police sought technical support from Sathvik and Harish during their investigation into the Bitcoin case.
As per SIT’s findings, the duo allegedly exploited the assistance provided to the police and gained unauthorized access to hacker Srikrishna, also known as Sriki’s, Amazon Web Services (AWS). With Sriki’s assistance, they proceeded to hack numerous websites and crypto wallets.
In addition, they unlawfully infiltrated the Cottonpet police’s MSI laptop, which was being utilized for investigation purposes. This unauthorized access occurred on five separate occasions, during which they copied data and tampered with evidence.
The Special Investigation Team Crypto
Alleged that the pair assisted accused individuals numbered 1 to 4 in transferring bitcoins and Shriki’s wallets to Nano ledgers (secure cryptocurrency wallets). Additionally, it was disclosed that the duo provided a sum of Rs 7 lakh to accused No. 4, who is a police inspector, in order to retrieve the bitcoins that had been unlawfully transferred through hacking the Unocoin website operated by them. Furthermore, it has come to light that they made attempts to transfer cryptocurrency from Shriki’s crypto wallet to multiple accounts.
The SIT has also stated that Sathvik supervised Sriki while he engaged in website hacking under the direction of other individuals involved in the case. The SIT has clarified that the accused duo did not financially benefit from their actions and there is no direct accusation of hacking against them. However, they are charged with assisting accused No. 4 in hacking websites through Sriki and monitoring his activities. This statement was submitted by the SIT in response to the anticipatory bail application filed by the accused before a city court. The 51st Additional City Civil and Sessions Judge, Yashwanth Kumar, granted their plea with certain conditions.
Sleuths of SIT recently arrested police inspector Prashanth Babu, who was the investigation officer earlier, and cyber expert KS Santhosh Kumar, chief executive officer of GCID Technologies Private Ltd.
It is alleged that keeping Shriki in illegal detention when he was in police custody, the investigating officers forced him to connect to his AWS many times through a laptop used for investigation and hacked several websites, transferred bitcoins and changed passwords. It is also alleged that the investigating officers misused the department’s Technical Support Centre at Adugodi and took assistance from the GCID firm to commit the crime.
Officials have stated that the report also indicates the involvement of two additional individuals, namely Gagan Jain, a cyber security expert, and Sathvik V, the director of Unocoin Technologies Private Limited, in assisting the accused with the destruction of vital evidence. Furthermore, the Special Investigation Team (SIT) discovered an email sent by Sriki to a woman while he was under police custody. However, the exact amount of coins transferred remains undisclosed, and the SIT is currently conducting further investigations to ascertain this information. The case diary further reveals Babu’s alleged efforts, with the assistance of Kumar, Jain, and Sathvik, to eliminate crucial evidence. Their reported actions included erasing important details from Sriki’s bitcoin wallets stored on the Amazon Cloud server and deleting bash history to conceal their tracks from the investigators.
The remand application states that the crucial information pertaining to Sriki’s bitcoin wallets in the Amazon Cloud server was deliberately erased, along with the deletion of the bash history. This was done with the sole purpose of concealing the evidence from the ongoing investigation.
According to the Special Investigation Team (SIT)
They have gained access to Sriki’s email dump during his time in Ashok Nagar police custody on January 22, 2021. The remand application reveals that within Sriki’s email dump, it was discovered that he had sent an email to a female friend, explaining his situation while in police custody. It is believed that Sriki was provided with a laptop, internet access, and unrestricted usage during his time in police custody, potentially for undisclosed motives.