ED Raids 12 Locations In 2017 Crypto Money Laundering Case Linked To Congress MLA Nalapad Haris And His Sons

Bengaluru: The Directorate of Enforcement has raided 12 premises of Congress MLA Nalapad Ahmed Haris and his sons Mohammed Nalapad and Omar Farooq Nalapad, reportedly over the illegal crypto currency dealings.

Haris, the close associate of Deputy Chief Minister D K Shivakumar is sitting MLA from Shanthinagar constituency and presently the Chairman of Bengaluru Development Authority.

Confirming the raid was related to cryptocurrency linked money laundering case, the Directorate of Enforcement release has said that the case was related to Srikrishna Ramesh @ Sriki and other accused persons at 12 premises across Karnataka, including the houses of Mohammed Nalapad and Omar Farooq Nalapad, two sons of Haris.

``The searches are being conducted under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), 2002. The investigation so far has revealed that Mohammed Nalapad and Omar Farook Nalapad are close associates of Srikrishna Ramesh and are main beneficiaries of proceeds of crime,'' the ED release stated.

The investigation is based on multiple FIRs and chargesheets filed by Karnataka police in a 2017 case, where Srikrishna Ramesh and his associates had hacked national and international websites, theft of bitcoins, extortion and violated provisions of Narcotics, Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act, 1985.

The investigation under PMLA has revealed the modus operandi by the accused persons, which includes hacking of websites./wallets to stael virtual digital assets (VDAs), data/money (Proceeds of crime), sale of stolen VDAs were routed through crypto trading platforms. The sale proceeds were layered by transferring them through bank accounts. These sale proceeds were used by Srikrishna and his associates forperonal benefit, the ED release pointed out.

Though the dark market knew about Sriki alias Srikrishna Ramesh since 2016, he came to light only during COVID-19 period. The government procurement gateway was hacked and the money was transferred to multiple bank accounts and was invested in cryptocurrency. The investigation was handed over to the CID.

When the CID sleuths tracked down Sriki, they realised that they were sitting on a gold mine. As the investigation progressed with many more such hacking and procurement of VDAs, the investigation started losing track. Though the names of big and powerful people cropped up during the investigation, the CID later filed chargesheet only in procurement gateway hacking case against Sriki and kept quiet.

However, based on the CID investigations, even the ED had registered a case and was conducting a parallel investigation. On Monday, the ED conducted its first raid regarding the ring involving Sriki in Money Laundering through cryptocurrency. 

Karnataka has witnessed two major cryptocurrency scams. The first is involved with Sriki alias Srikrishna Ramesh and the second one was a racket where the bribe money of several government officials, including some senior officials working with Lokayukta used to convert their money into cryptocurrency through an agent. However, investigation into both the scams did not reach the logical end, due to involvement of powerful people.