Berhampur: Odisha police Sunday busted a well-organised mule account racket and arrested four brokers, who allegedly opened several bank accounts in the name of others by offering cash incentives to assist cyber criminals.
The accused have been identified as Pabitra Pradhan (25), Anil Kumar Patra (24), Gagan Dalai (25) and Shankarshana Sahu (23). All are from Ganjam district.
Pradhan acted as the main agent to open the mule accounts, while the other three acted as sub-agents, police said.
Five mobile phones, two bank passbooks, Aadhaar cards and an ATM card have been seized from their possession, said Chandan Ghadei, sub-divisional police officer (SDPO) Chhatrapur.
He said several other persons might be involved in the racket, and investigation was on to nab them.
Police suspect that the main accused was from New Delhi, who was operating the racket by engaging agents to open the mule accounts.
Sabyasachi Malla, inspector-in-charge, Chhatrapur police station, said they have detected two mule accounts opened in the name of two persons from Chhatrapur by the sub agents in May by offering Rs 2,000 cash incentive to each, while their documents for the account was with the main accused person in New Delhi.
The police have also found Rs 9 lakh in the deposit in these two accounts without the knowledge of the account holders, he said.
We suspect the sub agents might have opened over 100 bank accounts in the name of some people in the area by offering cash incentives, which were then transferred to a handler in New Delhi, said Malla.
The police inspector said that the sub-agents get commission on every new account, while they provide Rs 2,000 for opening of the new accounts.
The main agent, Pradhan, also got commission in each new account from the main accused in New Delhi. It was a well-established racket, and we are trying to nab all its members, he added.