Bengaluru hacker caught after seven years in crypto heist probe

India’s Enforcement Directorate (ED) arrested the main suspect in a long running Bitcoin theft case on Saturday, pulling in two associates with him in Bengaluru.

The ED arrested Srikrishna, who goes by Sriki, along with Robin Khandeval and Sunish Hegde.

They’re facing accusations tied to a cryptocurrency fraud worth Rs 11.5 crore, ~$1.3 million, according to local media outlets. A special court gave the ED 10 days of custody to dig deeper.

The hack started in 2017

This scam goes back to 2017. That’s when Sriki and his crew allegedly broke into national and international websites and made off with Bitcoin.

The stolen coins included a haul from a Dubai exchange, investigators think. The crypto then got funneled to people with political ties in Karnataka.

Sriki first landed on law enforcement’s radar in November 2020. He got arrested for allegedly buying hydro ganja on the dark web using Bitcoin.

India’s ED has been chasing this Bitcoin scam for years now. The police are investigating illegal crypto transactions, hacking, and various financial irregularities.

The case kicked up a lot of political noise in Karnataka. On April 20, the ED raided 12 locations linked to the accused and their associates.

Among the targets, places connected to Mohammed Haris Nalapad and Omar Farook Nalapad, sons of Shantinagar MLA N.A. Haris. Mohammed Hakeeb Khan, grandson of former Union Minister K. Rehman Khan, also had his residence searched.

The ED thinks Mohammed Haris and Omar Farook ended up with proceeds from the crime. Investigators claim the hacked Bitcoin moved from the Dubai exchange to the Nalapads. The agency’s been tracing the digital trail.

Suspicious money transfers through Hakeeb Khan’s bank accounts triggered searches at his place too. Transactions between Khan and Sriki are still under investigation as part of the wider probe.

The case got passed around between Indian authorities

Bengaluru’s Central Crime Branch handled the Bitcoin scam initially. Then it got transferred to Karnataka’s Criminal Investigation Department.

The ED eventually took over, using the Prevention of Money Laundering Act to track proceeds across crypto wallets and traditional banking channels.

In a separate case, the Himachal Pradesh High Court recently denied bail to Abhishek Sharma. He’s accused of running a crypto MLM scheme that allegedly ripped off +80,000 investors for Rs 500 crore, or ~$3.6 million, Cryptopolitan previously reported. The court called economic offenses “grave” because they hit the economy.

Globally, crypto fraud losses keep climbing. The FBI’s latest annual report recorded $11.4 billion in cryptocurrency losses across the United States in 2025. This is a 22% jump from the prior year, according to Cryptopolitan’s coverage of the report.