Rs 2 pinched from each Jan Dhan account: Kumaraswamy

BENGALURU : As a controversy rages over the bitcoin scam, with the ruling BJP and opposition Congress slinging allegations at each other, JDS leader HD Kumaraswamy has alleged that the ‘Jan Dhan’ accounts of citizens are being hacked to illegally divert over Rs 6,000 crore elsewhere.

“Prime Minister Narendra Modi might himself know about it, and has hence taken it seriously,” he told reporters on the sidelines of the party’s Janata Parva 1.0 workshop on Thursday. “I have information that Rs 2 is being diverted from each Jan Dhan account. Citizens have the right to know who is behind this illegal transaction,” he urged.

The Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana (PMJDY) is the Government of India’s flagship programme aimed at financial inclusion of citizens, especially the weaker sections, and encourages opening of accounts with zero balance. As on November 11, 2021, there are 43.81 crore beneficiaries with Rs 1,48,935.05 crore balance in their accounts, according to the official portal of PMJDY. 

The former chief minister suspects a clandestine attempt to hush up the bitcoin scam as the ‘kingpin’ in the case and hacker Srikrishna, alias Sriki, managed to get bail in connection with a separate case of a brawl in a hotel. “Who bailed him out with surety, and what is the role of the lawyer who appeared on behalf of the government? If the Congress regime had taken action in 2017-18, the scam would not have been so damaging,” he alleged.

With both the BJP and Congress involved in the scam blame game, people are in a state of confusion as to whom they can believe, he said. “The Congress is in a glasshouse and is pelting stones at others. Eventually, their leaders’ names have also been surfaced,” Kumaraswamy said. He pointed out that Police Commissioner Kamal Pant had written to investigative agencies as early as March-April 2021 for a probe. 

PM Modi, who got to know about the bitcoin scam during his visit to the US, is facing embarrassment. In the interest of safeguarding the country’s image, the names of certain leaders were not revealed by agencies, he remarked.