WazirX Hack: Delhi Police Arrests Man From Bengal

SUMMARY

The Delhi Police have arrested a man from West Bengal for allegedly setting up a fake WazirX account that led to the $230 Mn security breach

As per the chargesheet filed by the Delhi Police, digital asset custody and wallet infrastructure provider Liminal has not been cooperating with the investigation

The arrest comes days after WazirX said it was planning to resume trading on its platform, presumably by February 2025

The Delhi Police has arrested a man from West Bengal for his alleged involvement in the cyberattack on crypto exchange WazirX that led to the loss of over $230 Mn from one of its wallets.

As per India Today, the accused, identified as SK Musad Alam, was arrested by Delhi Police’s Special Cell from West Bengal’s Midnapore district for allegedly setting up a fake WazirX account to facilitate the hack.

The accused allegedly opened a WazirX account under a different name and then sold it to another individual on Telegram, who then used the fake account to orchestrate the security breach at the crypto exchange, the report said.

As per the chargesheet filed by the Delhi Police, wallet custody provider Liminal, which was responsible for securing WazirX wallets, has allegedly not been cooperating with the investigation. Liminal has denied any wrongdoing in the WazirX $230 Mn cyberattack.

The document in question has not been independently verified by Inc42.

The arrest is a part of the probe launched by Delhi Police’s Intelligence Fusion and Strategic Operations (IFSO) division into the WazirX hack that took place in July.

It is pertinent to note that multiple government agencies — including the Financial Intelligence Unit, Intelligence Bureau and the Indian Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT-In) — have launched a probe into the WazirX hack.

The arrest comes days after WazirX said it was planning to resume trading on its platform as part of its plan to make its users whole after a cyberattack cost the crypto exchange over $230 Mn in assets.

As per media reports, WazirX is looking to restart operations by February 2025.

Earlier, WazirX said it would set up a committee of creditors to advise it on its restructuring plan. Notably, a Singapore court has granted WazirX a four-month conditional moratorium to restructure its liabilities.

More recently, Ashish Singhal, cofounder of CoinSwitch, accused WazirX of transferring over $73 Mn in crypto assets to other exchanges following the heist.