Techie’s arrest leads to dark web of drug dealings in B’luru

Bengaluru, Nov 19 (SocialNews.XYZ) The Bengaluru Central Crime Branch police on Wednesday arrested a 25-year-old computer programmer for allegedly hacking various government sites besides helping drug peddlers in the city to procure through the darknet.

The CCB caught the programmer while they were interrogating eight persons including Congress Dalit leader's son Darshan Lamani involved in procurement of drugs through dark web last week.

Darshan Lamani has been arrested for sheltering and hosting two of his friends who turned out to be drug peddlers in Goa.

According to the police, the accused was identified as Srikrsihna aka Shreeki, resident of Jayanagar in the city.

Speaking to media persons, Bengaluru Police Commissioner, Kamal Pant said that the accused is a very good computer programmer, had he used those skills in a positive direction but unfortunately, he has turned out to be playing in the hands of drug peddlers.

"He hacked many websites, online gaming portals, and made illegal gains. He has also tried to hack into government websites. In some cases he has succeeded too. He successfully hacked into, in Karnataka e-procurement website some time ago," the commissioner revealed.

According to the police, Shrikrishna has an impressive biodata to believe in his claims as he did his three year computer graduate programme in Netherlands.

"He lived in Amsterdam for his studies between 2014 to 2017. He studied in a reputed university over there," the police note revealed.

The police further added that after his return he turned out to be a rogue hacker as he had been addicted to HydroGanja consumption, which is easily available in Amsterdam across the counter in shops. "Netherlands is one of the few countries, where consumption of marijuana is legal," an investigation officer told IANS.

During routine investigations of the eight persons arrested in a drug case last week, the police often came across Shrikee's name for helping them to source hydro-ganja through darkweb.

Besides helping them, Shreeki also hacked several gaming portals especially on-line gambling portals and he used to collect those winning cards of players from portals and use the same cards to procure bitcoins, which in turn were used to procure ganja through dark web, the police explained his complex way of making illegal gains through hacking abilities.

Apart from this, he has even hacked company websites to make money by threatening them to destroy crucial data from servers, the police claimed.

This eight member gang used to procure drugs through the dark web and enjoy their life in luxurious resorts and flats in and around the city by organising high-profile rave parties.

The CCB caught one of the accused in the case - Sujay outside the Bengaluru Foreign Post Office with 500 gm of hydroponically-grown marijuana on November 9. One gram of the substance is estimated to cost between Rs 2,000 to Rs 3,000 in the market.

The CCB learned that Sujay and his associates, Hemanth, Prasid Shetty and Suneesh Hegde - a real estate businessman and resident of Sadashivanagar - had allegedly ordered the marijuana on the darknet by paying bitcoins.

This case caught the public attention only after, the CCB first picked up Congress dalit leader and former minister, Rudrappa Lamani's son Darshan Lamani from Goa for allegedly sheltering his friends.

Then the CCB through investigation came to know that the head constable of the Sadashivanagar Police Station, HC Prabhakar was suspended for allegedly colluding with one of these accused and tipping them off as the CCB sleuths were on the lookout for them.

Further, probe is on.

Source: IANS