Berhampur: A 36-year-old man from Chhattisgarh was arrested for allegedly operating at least five ‘mule’ accounts in private banks in the name of five persons from Berhampur city in Odisha, police said.
‘Mule’ accounts are bank accounts that facilitate illegal transactions by receiving and transferring funds from unlawful activities.
The accused, who hails from Bhilai in Durg district, opened the accounts in three banks here in April 2023, and around Rs 10 lakh has been transacted till date, Berhampur SP Saravana Vivek M said.
Bank passbooks, cheque books, ATM cards and mobile phones were seized from his possession, he said.
The accused was allegedly involved in cyber crimes in various states, including Rohtak and Gurugram in Haryana, Kotwali in Uttar Pradesh and Hanumanagar in Rajasthan, the SP said.
The Berhampur police have got information about 346 ‘mule’ accounts in various banks from the Samanvaya portal of Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre (ICCC), a unit of the Ministry of Home Affairs MHA.
During the investigation into these accounts, a police team detected the accused, the police officer said.
The investigation has revealed that the accused had visited his relatives’ house at Berhampur two years ago and opened five bank accounts in the name of three persons in the city with the assurance to provide jobs in a finance company.
Out of good faith, they opened bank accounts in their names and later gave the details to the accused, the police said.
“It was found during the investigation that these accounts were used for money laundering by cyber fraudsters,” the SP said, adding that verification of other ‘mule’ accounts is going on.
PTI
