Karnataka Youth Congress chief Mohammed Nalapad appears before SIT probing Bitcoin scam
Bengaluru, Feb 06 (PTI): Karnataka Pradesh Youth Congress Committee President Mohammed Haris Nalapad appeared before the SIT of the Karnataka CID here on Thursday to take part in the Bitcoin scam probe.
Mohammed and his brother Omar Haris, were questioned in June 2024 too for over two days with regard to the payments made by them for expenses incurred by hacker Srikrishna Ramesh alias Sriki, including his stay at luxury hotels, his travel and other expenses between 2017 and 2018.
Sriki was arrested in November 2020.
Mohammed and Omar are sons of Congress MLA N A Haris, the chairman of the Bangalore Development Authority.
Sources said the SIT is reported to be in the process of finalising two charge sheets in the Bitcoin scam in which police officers have allegedly destroyed evidence and embezzled cryptocurrency.
The SIT began its investigation into the Bitcoin scam in June 2023.
Last year, the SIT filed a charge sheet against Sriki and his accountant Robin Khandelwal in connection with the hacking of Unocoin Technology Pvt Ltd's crypto exchange in Karnataka that occurred on June 23, 2017. This incident resulted in the theft of 60.6 Bitcoins, which were valued at Rs 1.14 crore based on the prevailing rate of Rs 1.67 lakh per Bitcoin at that time.
There is no record of direct financial transactions between the hacker and the Nalapad brothers, including their fund manager. However, the hacker stated to the CID police in 2021, following his arrest for a hacking incident at the Karnataka government's e-procurement portal in July 2019 that resulted in a Rs 11.5 crore heist, that he had made an "investment" of 150 Bitcoin and 1,100 Ethereum with Mohammed after meeting the brothers in 2017.
According to the sources, the statements made by Srikrishna are currently being investigated and verified.
At the time of the hacker's arrest in 2020, the value of one Bitcoin was in the range of $20,000 (around Rs 20 lakh), and it surged to as high as $50,000 (around Rs 50 lakh) by April 2021. The value of one Bitcoin recently hit $1,00,000.
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'Saved 30 to 50 million lives': Trump repeats claim of ending India-Pakistan conflict, amid Iran war
Washington: US President Donald Trump has once again claimed that he ended the India-Pakistan conflict, stating that he “saved 30 to 50 million lives,” amid the ongoing war with Iran that has been going on for 6 weeks.
According to Hindustan Times, speaking at a press conference at the White House on Monday, Trump said he had played a key role in stopping multiple global conflicts.
“I ended 8 wars, including India and Pakistan, so much so that the Prime Minister of Pakistan told me that I saved 30 to 50 million lives,” HT quoted Trump as saying.
He repeated the claim a second time in the same press conference, saying that he stopped 8 wars, including the India-Pakistan conflict, and lamented again about not winning the Nobel Peace Prize.
The India-Pakistan tensions had escalated in May last year following Operation Sindoor, launched by India after the Pahalgam terror attack. Trump has repeatedly claimed that the 3-day conflict was ended by him, though India has repeatedly denied the claim.
“We have one more to end by the way,” Trump said, though he did not specify if the war in Iran, Ukraine or another global conflict was on his radar.
He also criticised NATO and key US allies, including South Korea, Japan, and Australia, for not supporting US efforts in addressing global conflicts and securing strategic routes like the Strait of Hormuz.
“You know who else didn’t help us? South Korea didn’t help us. You know who else didn’t help us? Australia didn’t help us. You know who else didn’t help us? Japan. We’ve got 50,000 soldiers in Japan to protect them from North Korea. We have 45,000 soldiers in South Korea to protect us from Kim Jong Un, who I get along with very well,” Trump said.
He described the consequences that Iran would face if it didn’t reach a deal with the US by his 8 PM ET Tuesday deadline.
“We have a plan, because of the power of our military, where every bridge in Iran will be decimated by 12 o’clock tomorrow night,” Trump said, adding that power plants could be “burning, exploding and never to be used again.”
Trump refused to say whether any civilian targets would be off limits in the U.S. response.
