Bengaluru, Jun 9 (PTI) The Enforcement Directorate has summoned two sons of Karnataka Congress MLA N A Haris for questioning in a crypto currency-linked money laundering case, officials said on Tuesday.

Mohammed Haris Nalapad and Omar Farook Nalapad have been asked to appear before the central agency's office here on June 11 to record their statements under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).

The Nalapad brothers were raided by the ED in April along with some others.

Mohammed Haris Nalapad, a former Karnataka Youth Congress president, interacted with the press after the ED raids and denied any wrongdoing claiming that the 21-hour search by the agency in his and his brother's house did not fetch anything.

He had called the ED action "political vendetta" against his politician father.

The money laundering case stems from Karnataka Police FIRs and chargesheets filed in a 2017 case involving the hacking of national and international websites, the stealing of bitcoins, and the sale of these "stolen" virtual digital assets (VDA) through crypto platforms by an alleged hacker, Srikrishna Ramesh alias Sriki and his associates.

In May, the agency arrested Sriki and his alleged associates Robin Khandelwal and Sunish Hegde as part of this investigation.

The Karnataka Police's special investigation team (SIT) had earlier questioned the Nalapad brothers in this case.

The 60-year-old Nalapad Ahmed Haris or N A Haris is a four-time Congress MLA, who was elected to the assembly in 2008 and has represented the Shantinagar assembly seat since then.

Sriki was also arrested by the state police as part of this investigation.

Congress leaders had alleged in 2021 that he hacked Bitcoins worth Rs 10,000 crore and demanded probe into the possible involvement of the then ruling BJP in Karnataka. PTI NES KVK KVK

Crypto-linked money laundering probe under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act leads to summons for statement recording. Enforcement Directorate action in a crypto currency-linked money laundering investigation under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act involves summons issued to two sons of a Karnataka Congress MLA for recording statements in connection with alleged proceeds arising from hacking of national and international websites, theft of bitcoins, and sale of stolen virtual digital assets through crypto platforms. The matter is stated to originate from Karnataka Police FIRs and chargesheets in a 2017 case, and the brothers had earlier been questioned by the Karnataka Police special investigation team in the same investigation.