Former Minister B. Ramanath Rai on Saturday sought a judicial probe into the multi-crore bitcoin scam as he said names of some Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) activists are said to be associated with the hacker, Srikrishna alias Sriki, who has been arrested in connection with the scam.
Talking to reporters, Mr. Rai said the name of a senior BJP leader is among those of State BJP office-bearers mentioned in a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
“The names mentioned in the letter are of powerful people. It is necessary to have a probe by a sitting High Court judge to get a true picture of the scam,” he said, and added it will be difficult for the Central and the State investigation agencies to do a fair investigation in the matter.
Mr. Rai said when any scams were reported the Congress Governments at the Centre and the State have promptly ordered high-level probe into those incidents and took disciplinary action against all the party activists found involved.
Former MLC and All-India Congress Committee secretary Ivan D’souza on Saturday asked Governor Thaawarchand Gehlot to probe into the allegation made by Karnataka State Contractors’ Association that tender amount for Government projects are inflated by about 30% to pay to politicians.
Mr. D’Souza said Mr. Modi had termed the Congress Government in the State as “10% commission” Government during the 2018 Assembly election campaign.
“Now the contractors themselves in the complaint to the Prime Minister have put out the rates that is being demanded by those in power in the State. They have also said about 10% cut demanded for clearing payment,” he said.
“This is a serious allegation against Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai and other members in the Cabinet. The Prime Minister himself should get the matter investigated or the Governor should take suo motu cognisance of the complaint and get it probed,” he told reporters.
