Under fire from the Congress over the alleged Bitcoin scam, the Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai on November 14 hit back at the Congress by stating that he need not take lessons from those who had let off the accused in the Bitcoin scam charged with hacking earlier.
"We have already responded to all their [Congress] charges. If the Congress is stating that the Bitcoin scam was since 2016, then why was it not investigated by the Congress government that was in power then," the Chief Minister asked when his response was sought over AICC General Secretary Randeep Surjewala's accusations.
The Chief Minister said: "The accused [Srikrishna] had been arrested in 2018, but was let off. Even after he obtained anticipatory bail, he could have been questioned. But why was he not questioned?" Claiming that it was the BJP government that investigated the scam, he said, "We opened the investigation, we caught him in a drug case in 2020, we unearthed the scam and we are investigating. When you [Congress] were in power, you allowed it to grow bigger and when we are investigating, you are questioning us."
He said: "It was the BJP government that referred the matter to ED and CBI. Today, the ED is investigating. We have shared the information that has been sought by CBI-Interpol." Accusing the Congress of attempting to mislead, he said, "Just to cover up, you are talking about two influential persons without naming them. Name them and we will investigate. We will not spare anyone."
Questioning the Congress's accusation, Mr. Bommai said that the Congress is accusing of the scam based on a tweet in twitter. " It shows the intellectual bankruptcy of allegations being made based on a tweet. You should show circumstantial evidence as the basis for your claim. If you have documents, share it with investigating agencies. It does not augur well to the stature of being a Congress leader [Mr. Surjewala] to make such claims based on tweets."
