A 25-year-old computer programmer based in Bengaluru was arrested on Wednesday by the Central Crime Branch (CCB) for allegedly hacking various government sites besides helping drug peddlers in the city to procure drugs through the dark net. According to the police, the accused was identified as Srikrishna alias Shreeki, a resident of Jayanagar in the city.
The CCB was led to the techie as they were interrogating eight persons including Darshan Lamani, the son of former Congress minister Rudrappa Lamani, who was arrested recently. Darshan Lamani was arrested for sheltering and hosting two of his friends who turned out to be drug peddlers in Goa.
Speaking to media persons, Bengaluru Police Commissioner Kamal Pant said that the accused is a very good computer programmer, who should have used those skills in a positive manner but unfortunately, he has turned out to be playing into 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 the Karnataka e-procurement website some time ago," the commissioner revealed.
According to the police, Srikrishna has an impressive biodata which claims that he did his three-year computer graduate programme in the Netherlands. "He lived in Amsterdam for his studies between 2014 to 2017. He studied in a reputed university over there," the police note revealed.
Police added that after his return, he turned out to be a rogue hacker as he had been addicted to hydro ganja 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 investigation of 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 the dark web.
Besides helping them, Shreeki also hacked several gaming portals especially online gambling portals and 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 the dark web, the police said, explaining his complex way of making illegal gains through hacking.
Apart from this, he has even hacked into company websites to make money by threatening them to destroy crucial data from servers, the police said.
The 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 dark net by paying bitcoins.