Bengaluru man hired famous hacker, made Rs 2 crore in cash, crypto: Probe

4 min readBengaluruUpdated: Jun 18, 2026 04:08 PM IST

Sriki, 31, is accused of being the mastermind behind a multi-crore bitcoin hacking and drug trafficking scam in Karnataka. (Express photo/Special arrangement. Image enhanced using AI).

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Wednesday opposed the bail plea of gambling businessman Sunish Hegde, arguing that he utilised the services of notorious hacker Srikrishna, alias Sriki, to hack online poker sites and extort Rs 2 crore in the form of gambling chips at casinos, cash, and cryptocurrency.

The central agency arrested Srikrishna, 34, Hegde, 40, and the hacker’s accountant Robin Khandelwal, 32, on May 8 this year under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA). The probe stems from multiple hacking crimes registered by the Bengaluru police between 2017 and 2020.

Hegde, a politically connected businessman who operates several gaming and poker joints across Karnataka, has sought bail on health grounds, claiming there is no evidence linking him to money laundering.

During the bail hearing Wednesday, the special prosecutor countered Hegde’s defence, saying that Srikrishna had given a formal statement under Section 50 of the PMLA. In it, the hacker implicated Hegde, alleging that the businessman coerced him into using his hacking skills for cyber extortion.

The ED counsel said that statements recorded under Section 50 of the PMLA are legally admissible as evidence in court, irrespective of whether the accused was in custody at the time.

According to the agency, Srikrishna confessed to hacking popular platforms like PokerSaint and Pokerbaazi at Hegde’s behest. Following the Pokerbaazi breach, Hegde allegedly approached the site’s owners under the guise of an intermediary, demanding Rs 2 crore as “compensation” to repair the platform, a scheme the hacker described to investigators as “an extortion game”.

Of the Rs 2 crore extorted in 2018, the agency alleged that Rs 20 lakh was obtained in casino chips for Delta Corp, an offshore gaming company linked to the poker site. The money was allegedly routed through fund transfers to Khandelwal and subsequently to Hegde. The agency noted that the extorted sums funded a lavish lifestyle for the hacker and his associates.

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The principal sessions court extended the judicial custody of Hegde, Sriki, and Khandelwal by 15 days. Hegde’s bail hearing is expected to conclude on Thursday.

Political and police nexus

Srikrishna’s close inner circle during the 2017–2020 period allegedly included Mohammed Nalapad, a Youth Congress leader and son of prominent Bengaluru Congress MLA and Bengaluru Development Authority (BDA) Chairman N A Haris.

Nalapad, 35, was named in a chargesheet filed in May by a Karnataka police Special Investigation Team (SIT) for allegedly benefiting from Sriki’s 2017 heist of 60.6 Bitcoins (then worth Rs 1.14 crore) from the Unocoin cryptocurrency exchange. The chargesheet named Nalapad, alongside Sriki and accountant Khandelwal.

The SIT chargesheet followed ED searches conducted on April 20 across properties belonging to Sriki, the Nalapad brothers (Mohammed and Omar), Aqueeb Khan (grandson of former Congress MP Rehman Khan), and Hegde. The agency identified the Nalapad brothers and Aqueeb Khan as close associates of Sriki and primary beneficiaries of the proceeds of crime.

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Both the SIT and the central agency had extensively questioned the three in 2024 and 2025 regarding their financial transactions with the hacker. Srikrishna was first arrested by the Bengaluru Central Crime Branch (CCB) in November 2020 for procuring narcotics on the dark web using Bitcoin.

The SIT has been investigating several police officers who worked in the CCB unit during the 2020-2021 period for allegedly accepting bribes from a hacker. So far, four police officers and a cyber expert involved in the original investigation have been accused of misconduct.

According to statements from key witnesses who assisted investigators, the SIT stated that Sriki possessed over 4,000 Bitcoins, valued at approximately Rs 850 crore, at the time of his initial arrest in November 2020.