In a major crackdown on organised cyber fraud operations, police uncovered a large mule bank account racket allegedly used to route massive cybercrime funds. Officials said the network enabled fraudulent transactions worth Rs 182 crore through multiple bank accounts.
The Kutch (East) Cybercrime Police Station arrested 4 individuals — Yash Mulchand Bhatia (27), Siddharth Sunil Soni (34), Sahil Dinesh Sharma (26), and Alpesh Suresh Luhar (40). They were booked under Sections 316(2), 316(5), 318(4), 340(2), 61(2), 3(5) of the Indian Penal Code 2023 and Sections 66(C) and 66(D) of the I.T. Act for criminal conspiracy carried out with common intent.
Police identified 4 additional accused — Illubha Mngubha Jadeja, Vishwarajainh alias Vishubha Balubha Jadeja, Vijay Rana, and Hardik Haresh Rajgor — who are currently absconding.
According to a police statement, “As part of the conspiracy, the accused came together to run a network of savings and current bank accounts to aid people committing cyber fraud. In order to achieve their common intention, they lured the poor, needy and less educated people from different villages, rented shops in their names at Gandhidham and Adipur, made them proprietors of those shops without their knowledge.”
Authorities further alleged, “They got the businesses registered, created false invoices and bills in the names of the firms, acquired SIM cards and opened bank accounts in the name of the firms. The accused, then, in collusion with cybercrime gangs, provided them with these bank accounts to transfer the proceeds of crime abroad.”
Investigations revealed that transactions amounting to Rs 182,37,68,862 were carried out through 81 bank accounts. Despite knowing the funds were illegal, the accused reportedly withdrew Rs 5 lakh in cash.
Police also discovered 74 complaints linked to these illegally operated accounts across 5 banks. Victims were spread across multiple states, including West Bengal, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Karnataka, Rajasthan, Punjab, Uttarakhand, Bihar, and Telangana.
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