Bengaluru: As the Karnataka BJP on Thursday tweeted a picture of his late son Rakesh with associates of alleged bitcoin scam accused Srikrishna alias Sriki, senior Congress leader Siddaramaiah hit back at the ruling party accusing it of trying to hide its “corruption” and attempting to get personal to pursue “dirty agenda” in politics.
He also urged Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai to order a judicial enquiry into the alleged scam by the Supreme Court judge, including the term of the Congress government headed by him.
“Karnataka BJP is trying to hide their corruption by bringing the name of my deceased son. I urge CM of Karnataka to order a judicial enquiry by Supreme Court to investigate into the bitcoin scam, including our term,” the former Chief Minister tweeted.
“It has been five years since my son left us, but our family is still grieving. It is unfortunate he will not be able to reply to the allegations on him. Karnataka BJP is trying to get personal to pursue their dirty agenda in politics,” he alleged.
He was responding to tweets by Karnataka BJP with a picture of his late son Rakesh Siddaramaiah posing with Hemant Muddappa and Suneesh Hegde.
“Hemant Muddappa and Suneesh Hegde had a close friendship with bitcoin hacker Sriki. It is mentioned in the police document that they had hacked a gaming site and e-portal through Sriki. Please see who is with Suneesh Hegde and Hemant here,” BJP had said in a tweet with the photo.
“It is our belief that you will recognise all those with Hemant Muddappa and Suneesh Hegde in this photo. If that belief is true, the bitcoin hacking scam began during your tenure. Mr Siddaramaiah, you have accurate information about it, right?” the BJP said.
Alleging that illegal activities like drugs and bitcoin were taking place in a hookah bar at a prestigious hotel in Bengaluru, BJP further stated that people like Sriki, Hemant Muddappa and Suneesh Hegde might have “roamed around” Siddaramaiah’s residence.
Hitting back at BJP for alleging that his son Rakesh was seen with Srikrishna’s friend, Siddaramaiah asked, “Then how can we interpret the photo of Prime Minister Narendra Modi with Nirav Modi (alleged fugitive) during the 2018 World Economic Forum?”
He further said, “It is alleged that an important Karnataka BJP leader had received bitcoin as quid pro quo for mediating the release of Hemant Muddappa when he was arrested with Srikrishna. Nalin Kumar Kateel (State BJP president) may know who that leader is.”
Rakesh had died of multi-organ failure at a hospital in Belgium in 2016, at the age of 39. Siddaramaiah was Chief Minister then.
There have been speculations for some time now about the involvement of politically-influential people in the alleged scam after CCB officials claimed recovery of bitcoins worth Rs nine crore from a city-based hacker Sriki, who is also accused of hacking into government portals, sourcing drugs through the dark net and paying for it through cryptocurrency.
Congress leaders have alleged the involvement of senior BJP leaders, their family members and senior officials in the scam, and have accused the government of trying a cover-up. The BJP too in its counter has alleged involvement of leaders from the grand old party.
