CCB left out key details in Sriki bail hearing

The Central Crime Branch (CCB) did not provide relevant details of the cyber crimes committed by Srikrishna Ramesh alias Sriki in the charge sheet of the suo motu case filed against him.

This was reflected in the First Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate’s order which granted the hacker bail on March 9, 2021.

The order on the suo motu complaint (153/2020) registered at Cottonpet police station said that there was “no complaint by any of the websites which have been hacked or by any of the companies whose websites have been hacked by the accused...”

The suo motu complaint had alleged that Sriki had hacked poker sites such as Poker Dangal, Spartan Poker and Poker Saint, a cryptocurrency exchange Unocoin and several other websites. He was also accused of ransomware attacks on various websites.

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However, a charge sheet filed by Cyber Crime Police, Bengaluru -- which falls under CCB -- on February 22, 2021, noted his involvement in the hacking of several websites.

This charge sheet was related to the hacking of poker websites of Pacific Gaming Ltd. Forensic analysis of Sriki and his aide Robin Khandelwal’s devices in connection with this case show that devices seized from the two contained hacking data of more than 10 websites.

The bail on March 9 was the first secured by Sriki before he was finally granted bail on April 7 for all cases filed against him and subsequently released on April 17.

Months before the bail order, the Enforcement Directorate had written to CCB on December 1 seeking copies of FIRs and charge sheets filed in connection with the Srikrishna case.

The letter noted that “the said person is alleged to be an international hacker” and sought to examine him under the Foreign Exchange Management Act and Prevention of Money Laundering Act.

Due to the delay in providing information, the Enforcement Directorate had to dispatch a reminder on February 15 about Sriki’s cases, after which the CCB shared the details on March 3.

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