Odisha Police Nab 4th Accused In Inter-State Mule Bank Accounts Racket

Bhubaneswar: The STF of Odisha Police has arrested one more accused in the alleged inter-state fake SIM card/mule bank accounts racket.

The arrested has been identified as Samim Islam of Murshidabad in West Bengal.

According to an official release, he was one of the key members of the racket having links mostly in West Bengal and Bihar.

In October, the STF had arrested three persons – Sheikh Hapizul and Sheikh Jahangir of Olamara in Balasore district and Sheikh Jamaluddin of Rampura of West Medinapur, West Bengal – for their alleged involvement in running the inter-state racket. Various incriminating materials such as mobile phones, pre-activated SIM cards, bank passbooks and Aadhaar cards were also seized during the raid. A case was also registered in this regard under different sections of the Indian penal code and the Information Technology Act.

The release further said that Sk Jamiruddin headed the racket, which operated mainly in the districts of Balasore, Mayurbhanj, East Midnapore, West Midnapore, East Sighbhoom, West Singhbhoom and Saraikela. He had employed around 10-15 people for 15,000 a month to open bank accounts.

Police 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 villager.

The gang members 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.