Odisha Police Arrest One More Accused In Inter-State Mule Bank Accounts Racket

Bhubaneswar: The STF of Odisha Crime Branch has arrested one more person in connection with an inter-state mule bank accounts racket.

The accused, identified as Sourav Maity (30) of of Rampura in Mohanpur district in West Medinipur, was nabbed from West Bengal on January 15. He was produced in the CJM court at Barasat in North 24 Paragana and was brought to Bhubaneswar on 4-day transit remand, an STF release said, adding that he will be produced in the SDJM court here.

In October last year, three persons – Sheikh Hapizul and Sheikh Jahangir of Olamara in Balasore district and Sheikh Jamaluddin of Rampura of West Medinipur, West Bengal, were arrested for their alleged involvement in the racket. Two months later, another key accused, Samim Islam of Murshidabad district of West Bengal, was nabbed.

Various incriminating materials such as mobile phones, pre-activated SIM cards, bank passbooks and Aadhaar cards were also seized from them. A case was also registered in this regard under different sections of the Indian penal code and the Information Technology Act.

The racketeers were allegedly selling mule bank accounts along with the connected mobile numbers to various cyber-financial, sextortion scammers and other criminals based at Kolkata and other parts of India.

The release said that Sheik Jamiruddin headed the racket, which operated mainly in the tri-junction area of Odisha, Jharkhand and West Bengal, especially in the districts of Balasore, Mayurbhanj, East Midnapore, West Midnapore, East Singhbhum, West Singhbhum and Saraikela.. He had employed around 10-15 people for 15,000 a month to open bank accounts.

The investigation revealed that the gang offered Rs 2,000 per account to each person who gave documents to open the bank accounts. However, the mobile numbers linked with bank accounts were provided by the gang members. The rate of 2,000 per account also depended on the bargaining/awareness level of the villagers.

They then sold these mule bank accounts for Rs 15,000 to Rs 20,000 per account. “They have so far sold around 5,000 mule bank accounts on different platforms. It was also noticed that the scammers frequently changed the bank accounts. They would abandon the bank accounts once it reached a transaction of Rs 1 lakh. Sometimes, these accounts were frozen by concerned banks on the request of police/law enforcement agencies,” it added.