The Enforcement Directorate has directly targeted the heart of Karnataka’s political establishment, launching simultaneous raids across 12 locations in Bengaluru on Monday, April 20. The primary targets are Mohammed Haris Nalapad and Omar Farook Nalapad, the sons of sitting Congress MLA N.A. Haris. The raids escalate a massive, five-year-old cybercrime saga known as the “Sriki Bitcoin Scam,” striking just as Karnataka’s state government faces immense pressure over its handling of high-profile financial controversies.
The core allegation driving this sudden escalation is money laundering. The ED alleges the Nalapad brothers were direct beneficiaries of proceeds generated by Srikrishna Ramesh, a notorious hacker who allegedly breached international cryptocurrency exchanges and government websites in 2017 and 2021. According to the agency, the illicit crypto-funds were systematically liquidated and layered through domestic channels. By Tuesday, April 21, the raids had detonated a fierce political war across the state, with the ruling Congress party accusing the central BJP government of orchestrating a targeted political witch-hunt.
Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah immediately condemned the operation, arguing it was a deliberate attempt to intimidate political opponents. IT Minister Priyank Kharge went further, labeling the ED “puppets of the BJP government” and publicly mocking the agency’s conviction rate, which he cited as under 2%. The searches also expanded beyond the Nalapad family, targeting Aqeeb Khan, the grandson of former Union Minister K. Rahman Khan.
In response to the backlash, Union Minister of State Shobha Karandlaje defended the ED’s actions, stating the agency was acting on credible intelligence regarding the foreign investment of stolen cryptocurrency. The BJP maintains the investigation is a necessary crackdown on severe financial crime.
Mohammed Haris Nalapad addressed the media on Tuesday, forcefully denying any financial recovery during the searches. He claimed the ED agents only confiscated two mobile phones. Nalapad acknowledged a previous social relationship with the hacker Sriki but insisted the raids were politically motivated, according to details confirmed by the Indian Express. He suggested the timing was deliberately engineered to derail his father’s prospects of securing a ministerial position in the state cabinet.
The sudden resurrection of the Sriki bitcoin case by a central agency threatens to destabilize Karnataka’s already tense political landscape as both parties weaponize the investigation ahead of upcoming legislative sessions.
The Strategic Resurgence of the Sriki Crypto Saga
The sudden escalation of this five-year-old cybercrime case by the ED signifies a critical shift in how central agencies are prosecuting historical digital offenses. The original FIRs against Srikrishna Ramesh were filed by Karnataka Police years ago, but the involvement of the central anti-money laundering agency drastically elevates the legal stakes for the accused entities.
This development mirrors the intensifying national strategy to trace sophisticated digital asset laundering networks back to high-profile political figures. By reviving a dormant investigation and explicitly targeting the families of prominent world leaders like MLA N.A. Haris and K. Rahman Khan, the ED is establishing a stark precedent: historical cryptocurrency transactions are vulnerable to ongoing PMLA scrutiny, regardless of the time elapsed since the initial hack. This forces regional political parties to navigate severe central oversight regarding any past associations with digital financial crimes.