Bank staff among 4 held in mule accounts racket in Delhi

Police said the four operated two current bank accounts through which nearly ₹6 crore was transacted over a period of 3-4 months

The Delhi Police on Wednesday announced that they have busted a syndicate that provided cyber criminals with mule accounts —bank accounts opened by fraudsters to park their ill-gotten wealth — and added that they have arrested four people, including an official at a private bank, in connection with the case.

Vikas Ahuja, the alleged mastermind, in police custody. (HT photo)

The arrested were identified as Vikas Ahuja, 45, the alleged mastermind of the racket, Dilip Kumar,32, a chartered accountant who took care of illegal financial transactions into the mule accounts, Ishu (goes by a single name), 26, and Ajay Banshkar, 40. Officer said they seized nine cellphones, 10 bank passbooks, and four ATM cards from the accused.

Police said the four operated two current bank accounts through which nearly ₹6 crore was transacted over a period of 3-4 months.

Their arrest came following investigation into a cheating case registered in January at the southwest district’s cyber police station, based on a complaint filed by a city resident, said deputy commissioner of police (southwest) Rohit Meena.

Manish Kumar Meena, the complainant, alleged that on January 2, some unknown people approached him on the messaging app Telegram and offered him part-time work, through which he could earn ₹1,000-1,500 as commission by just rating various cuisines on online platforms. He was tricked into transferring money in their bank accounts in the name of creating his ID, and lost ₹5.37 lakh before he realised he was duped, and lodged a complaint after the suspects deleted their Telegram IDs, said the DCP.

“During the investigation, a team led by cyber police station’s head, inspector Vikas Kumar Buldak, and sub-inspector Sumit (goes by single name) found that the two bank accounts in which Manish’s money was transferred were opened in the name of two firms, both operating from separate rented shops in central Delhi’s Regarpura near Karol Bagh. An analysis of the bank accounts showed transactions of nearly ₹6 crore. Eleven more cyber complaints were found linked with the accounts,” said DCP Meena.

The team first identified and questioned the owners of the bank accounts and the two firms, who turned out to be people living in a remote village in Madhya Pradesh. The two revealed that they were brought to Delhi by Banshkar, who promised them a job, arranged food and stay for them, used their credentials for opening two separate bank accounts, and paid ₹2,000 for each. The two were unaware that their credentials were also used to open the two fake business firms, investigators said.

The owners of the two shops were questioned. They told the investigators that they rented out their shops to Ishu. The police first arrested Banshkar in the last week of February. His interrogation led to the arrest of Kumar and Ishu over the next 20 days.

“The interrogation of the three men led to the arrest of Ahuja from Laxmi Nagar last week… He was being paid ₹1.5 lakh as commission for each account, and 1% of each transaction as commission,” DCP Meena said.