Two men were arrested by Balangir Police for allegedly running a large-scale digital fraud racket that routed over Rs5 crore through multiple mule bank accounts over the past seven months.
The accused are Debasis Kanti, 31, and Ranjan Kabat, 21, both residents of Chudapali under Sadar police station limits.
Authorities said the duo helped create one of the region’s largest networks of mule accounts. These accounts were used to launder proceeds from multiple cyber frauds. DIG (Northern Range) Himanshu Lal confirmed that a specialized team, including cyber cell officers, acted on the DGP’s directives to dismantle the syndicate.
Mule accounts were provided by local individuals who were unaware of their illicit use. Debasis allegedly recruited account holders and supplied these accounts to cybercriminals in exchange for a commission.
Investigators discovered that Debasis worked with a West Bengal-based handler, Nirbhaya Gupta, to supply hundreds of fraudulent bank accounts to cybercrime networks. Debasis also involved an associate, Soumya Ranjan, in acquiring and creating mule accounts for laundering funds from online scams. Efforts are underway to apprehend other syndicate members in West Bengal and across India.
Police raids on the accused’s premises recovered extensive financial and electronic evidence, including:
29 bank passbooks
15 cheque books
10 debit cards
1 POS terminal
8 mobile phones
5 SIM cards
1 vehicle used for operations
Authorities confirmed that the mule accounts were used to facilitate investment scams, task-based frauds, fake loan applications, and customer-support impersonation scams. A detailed financial trail analysis is ongoing to trace the movement of illicit funds and identify beneficiaries.
