Karnataka Bitcoin scam: Court rejects third anticipatory bail plea of police officer on the run

The sessions court, which earlier on March 11 granted interim anticipatory bail to the officer, rejected the anticipatory bail in an order pronounced after full arguments by the SIT in a case of attempt to murder an officer of the SIT – when an effort was made by the SIT to place Poojar under arrest on February 27.

A case of attempt to murder had been filed against Poojar by the Bengaluru police on the basis of a complaint filed by an assistant sub-inspector in the SIT, Bhaskar Ramu, who alleged that the DSP caused injuries to two SIT officers while trying to evade arrest on February 27.

In the arguments on behalf of the DSP, the court was told that the police officer was innocent and had not attempted to kill the policemen. It was argued that the policemen deputed to arrest the DSP did not have the requisite powers to arrest a senior officer. It was also argued that the car in which the police officer is alleged to have sped away did not belong to him.

The SIT argued that there was CCTV footage of the incident and that the Chevrolet car used by the police officer on February 27 was registered in the name of his wife as per RTO records.

“Since this petitioner is a high ranking police officer, there is every chance of tampering the prosecution witnesses,” the court said while rejecting the anticipatory bail plea.

The SIT is looking at arresting Poojar in a Bitcoin scam case involving Bengaluru crime branch officers from the 2020-21 period. The SIT moved to arrest Poojar on February 27 after his anticipatory plea was rejected on February 23 in the Bitcoin scam case. Poojar has now moved the Karnataka High Court for anticipatory bail in the Bitcoin scam case.

The anticipatory bail plea of the officer in a second destruction of evidence case was also rejected last week by a sessions court. The SIT issued a public notice for the arrest of Poojar on March 16.

“Processing of declaring (him a) Proclaimed Offender under Section 82 or CrPC is under progress in Hon’ble 1st ACMM Court. Any information about the accused person resulting in securing him will be suitably rewarded. The details of the informant will be kept confidential,” the CID public notice stated.

Poojar was the original investigating officer when Sriki was arrested in November 2020 by the Bengaluru crime branch police in a case of buying drugs on the darknet.

The arrest of the hacker led to the cracking of several cybercrimes in Karnataka, including a Rs 11.5 crore heist from the Karnataka e-governance cell in July-August 2019.

In an FIR registered on January 24, 2024, the SIT named Poojar (now a DySP), inspectors Prashanth Babu, Chandradhar S R and Lakshmikanthaiah along with a private cyber expert K S Santhosh Kumar who assisted the probe in the hacker’s case in 2020 as accused persons under charges of illegal confinement, breach of trust and destruction of evidence.

On February 23, a special court indicated in the course of rejection of the anticipatory bail of the police officer that the SIT had unearthed prima facie evidence to suggest wrong doing by the crime branch police following the arrest of the hacker in 2020.

“It appears that this is a case of a fence eating the crop. The petitioner who is an Investigating officer who had the duty to investigate the matters and to bring the culprits to book, has used his investigating power to do illegal acts such as illegal detention of the accused persons in the earlier case and hacking crypto wallets, websites, gaming apps etc., to make illegal gain,” the court said in an order for rejection of anticipatory bail of Poojar.

The handling of the cases involving the hacker by the police under the BJP regime in Karnataka after the arrests in November 2020 resulted in allegations of corruption. A CID SIT was constituted by the new Congress government on June 30, 2023, to probe the Bitcoin scam linked to the arrest of the hacker.

The SIT arrested police inspector Prashanth Babu and a cyber expert K Santhosh Kumar on January 24. The two were granted bail on February 23 after co-operating with the probe. The court denied bail to Poojar saying he had not co-operated in the probe. On February 28, the SIT arrested the police officer Lakshmikanthaiah while the anticipatory bail plea of the fourth officer S R Chandradhar was rejected on March 11. Chandradhar has also approached the High Court.

In recent weeks, the SIT probing the Bitcoin scam in Karnataka has also spoken to an IPS officer who was the supervising officer when the alleged Bitcoin scam involving the crime branch officers occurred. The IPS officer who was the joint commissioner of police (crime) when the alleged Bitcoin scam occurred has denied association with the alleged crimes involving the crime branch officers.