Rourkela police on Monday dismantled an organised criminal syndicate involved in operating mule bank accounts for large-scale cybercrime and money laundering, arresting seven persons, including an employee of a private bank.
The accused have been identified as Palash Ghosh, Aryaan Mahanandia, Waquar Khan, Vikram Singh, Ayaan Hussain, Akash Sharma, and Bipin Kumar Shaw.
According to Rourkela SP Nitesh Wadhwani, the gang specialised in opening bank accounts in the names of unsuspecting individuals, mostly from Rourkela and nearby areas, using forged documents and impersonation. These accounts were later sold or rented to cybercriminals across the country to route illegal proceeds, layer transactions to hide money trails, and launder funds domestically and internationally.
Investigations revealed that several accounts were opened with the connivance or negligence of bank staff, allowing KYC norms to be bypassed. Shaw (27), an employee of a private bank, allegedly played a key role in activating such accounts.
“The involvement of more bank insiders is suspected, considering the large number of accounts opened without proper scrutiny,” Wadhwani said.
The gang also arranged SIM cards and identity documents, charging between Rs 5,000 and Rs 10,000 per account.
Police said these mule accounts were linked to multiple forms of cybercrime, including online gaming fraud, and have appeared in more than 200 cyber fraud cases across India, according to the Samanvaya portal of the Ministry of Home Affairs.
The arrests followed a coordinated operation based on intelligence inputs, carried out under the supervision of Additional SP Shrabanee Nayak, involving teams from RN Palli, Plantsite, B Tarang, and Sector-7 police stations.
During the raids, police seized 80 passbooks, 50 debit cards, 10 Aadhaar cards, 20 PAN cards, 15 cheque books, four laptops, and 25 mobile phones from the accused.
