Bhubaneswar: The Commissionerate Police in Bhubaneswar have busted organised cyber fraud syndicates with the arrest of 10 persons, including a software engineer identified as Mayank Kumar, amid the ongoing ‘Operation Cyber Kavach’.
According to Commissioner of Police Suresh Dev Datta Singh, the arrests pertained to three cases under two police limits. The money obtained through the fraud rackets were routed to Dubai and Taiwan.
In the first case, the Laxmisagar Police arrested four members of a gang that had been running a mule bank account racket in the area for the past two years. Those arrested have been identified as Mayank Kumar, a resident of from Ranchi in Jharkhand and currently residing in a flat at Chandaka, Ranjan Kumar Sahu (27), originally from Ranpur in Nayagarh and currently residing at Satyanagar in Bhubaneswar, Nishikant Kar alias Bunu (28), from Gopa in Puri and currently residing at Santoshi Vihar and Mohammad Sadiq Raja Khan (28), resident of Yadupur-Dumduma.
Bhubaneswar DCP Jagmohan Meena said that Mayak allegedly acted as a middleman for a gaming app, luring victims into investing money with promises of high returns. “He used to bet on the gaming app and soon he had visitors from Taiwan, who persuaded him to enter into a racket. He then roped in other three for opening bank accounts using fake pre-activated SIMs, forged documents, and tampered KYC details, and then used these mule accounts to route the money obtained through deceit,” he said.
Mayak also allegedly amassed massive wealth from the racket, investing in luxury assets such as a Mercedes car, a café and a Rs 60 lakh flat. His lavish lifestyle became a key lead for investigators, who tracked financial transactions to unravel the fraud network.
Besides a black Mercedes-Benz car, police seized a Renault Triber car, six mobile phones, 37 debit cards of various banks, 16 cheque books, an Apple MacBook Air laptop, an Apple iPad, Rs 8,500 in cash, and other incriminating documents.
In the second case, three arrests were made in connection with a network allegedly involved in operating mule bank accounts used to launder proceeds from online frauds via cryptocurrency trading on platforms like Binance. The accused, Sumit Kumar Padhi (26), from Bhimpur in Bhubaneswar, began opening verified accounts on Binance in 2022. Fraudsters, reportedly operating from foreign locations including the Middle East, transferred illicit funds to these accounts, which were later frozen in various states such as Uttar Pradesh and Kerala on the basis of complaints lodged by the victims. Padhi allegedly continued creating new accounts to circumvent freezes and involved associates in the scheme.
Police seized seven mobile phones, including four iPhones, two OnePlus, and one Oppo, four bank passbooks, 10 cheque books, 21 debit cards, 11 SIM cards, and identity documents (Aadhaar, Voter ID, PAN, RC book) belonging to another accused, Ajit Kumar Pradhan (26), from Chandragiri in Gajapati and currently in Bhubaneswar.
The third person arrested in the case has been identified as Rajit Kumar Nayak (26), of Unit-6 area here.
In the third case, investigators exposed a local chain of mule account operators in Bhubaneswar. Key accused include Kartik Nayak (37) from Bapuji Nagar, whose Federal Bank current account had approximately Rs 21.99 lakh marked as lien due to fraud complaints from Telangana and Kerala.
Nayak was allegedly approached by SK Amir Hussain (26) from Unit-3, who facilitated the account opening using his own mobile number and took possession of it. Amir then handed it over to Debasish Pattnaik alias Sibu (26) of Siripur, who operated as the key link in the chain. Amir received Rs 3,000 as commission and gave Rs 2,000 to Kartik.
Pattnaik, who contacted fraudsters in Kolkata via Telegram in 2023, supplied mule accounts for commissions ranging from Rs 10,000 to Rs 1.5 lakh per account. He also worked as a loan agent, collecting personal data from clients and influencing them to open accounts for sale through anonymous channels, a police release added.
