CBI clarifies on reports claiming FBI team investigating Karnataka's Bitcoin scam

"Reference is made to media rumours that an FBI team has arrived in India to investigate a Bitcoin case involving Karnataka police. This is to advise you that the FBI has not deployed any team to India to undertake an investigation into the incident, nor has the FBI made any such request," the central investigation agency stated.

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) denied on Sunday that a team from the United States' Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) had arrived in India to investigate an alleged "Bitcoin fraud." On Friday, Congress' main spokesperson Randeep Surjewala inquired if the FBI was in India to probe an alleged "Bitcoin fraud" that the party accused the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) administration in Karnataka of covering up last year.

"Reference is made to media rumours that an FBI team has arrived in India to investigate a Bitcoin case involving Karnataka police. This is to advise you that the FBI has not deployed any team to India to undertake an investigation into the incident, nor has the FBI made any such request," the central investigation agency stated.

According to news agency ANI, the CBI also stated that "the subject of granting any approval for the investigation by a competent body in India does not arise."

"The CBI, as the National Central Bureau for INTERPOL in India, works closely with foreign law enforcement organisations, including the FBI," the statement said.

The statement comes after the Congress inquired on Friday whether the FBI is in India to probe an alleged "Bitcoin fraud" that the BJP administration in Karnataka was accused of covering up last year.

"Let India's HM (Home Minister Amit Shah) and CM (Basavaraj) Bommai respond: Is the FBI in India to probe India's largest Bitcoin Scam Coverup under the Karnataka BJP government?" If so, should information of the inquiry and suspects, including political figures, be made public?" he asked.

He also inquired as to how many Bitcoins were taken, their monetary worth, and who in Karnataka is implicated.

Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai accused the Congress of politicising the suspected bitcoin fraud last year, and requested the opposition party to turn over any records to investigative agencies.