Rourkela: An organised cybercrime and money-laundering racket was successfully busted by the police in Odisha’s Rourkela with the arrest of 14 persons, including two officials of Bandhan Bank and IDBI Bank.
A senior police official said the syndicate operated a large-scale operation, using mule bank accounts to facilitate cybercrime and launder money across India and abroad.
The crime syndicate, based out of Rourkela, was primarily involved in procurement and operation of mule bank accounts to facilitate transfer of illegal proceeds in cybercrime and money laundering activities in the country and abroad.
Police seized 30 Aadhaar and 10 PAN cards used in fake accounts, 17 passbooks of different banks, four cheque books, one laptop, 15 mobile phones and a car.
Acting on a tip off, a team of the Cyber Crime & Economic Offences police station with help of local police arrested the 14 in two phases for operating as conduits for the gang, Rourkela Superintendent of Police Nitesh Wadhwani told reporters.
The 14 arrested persons included Bandhan Bank branch manager Sahil Khuntia and IDBI Bank agent Shilpi Sahu. They were produced before a court on Tuesday.
Investigation showed that the accused were involved in facilitating and opening of mule bank accounts by forging documents with tacit support of complicit bank employees.
Each mule account was rented or sold to the crime syndicate for Rs 8,000 to Rs 10,000 and the bank accounts were found having links to Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, West Bengal, Delhi, Bihar and other states along with Dubai and Nepal, the SP said.
Possible involvement of insiders of several other banks is under investigation.
