Bank officer among five held for opening mule accounts

Chandigarh, August 20

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Chandigarh police have arrested five persons, including an assistant bank manager, in connection with a case involving the opening of mule accounts. The investigation carried out by the police brought the fact to light that approximately 700 bank accounts had been opened, with around 100 of them being used for cybercrime, some of which had already been flagged in various states.

The Cyber Crime Investigation Cell received a tip that two individuals staying at Hotel Friends in Sector 52 were enticing people to open bank accounts by offering them a commission of Rs 10,000.

Acting on this information, a team led by Inspector Rohitash Kumar, SHO of the cyber crime police station, apprehended the two suspects, identified as Devender Kumar Yadav and Sankar Suvan Shukla, also known as Abhay Shukla, both from Uttar Pradesh.

According to the police, the accused used to lure people into opening bank accounts and then took control of these accounts. They would pay a one-time commission of Rs 10,000 to the account holders.

The hotel manager, Birender Yadav, was also arrested for failing to record the two suspects’ stay at the hotel, where they had been residing for approximately 45 days.

Further investigation led to the arrest of Avinash, an assistant manager at Indian Bank in Sector 17, who had allegedly opened the accounts without conducting a proper check. Another suspect, Ankit Jain, a Delhi resident, was also apprehended for selling these mule accounts to handlers based in Dubai.

The investigation revealed that the individuals who used to provide documents for opening these bank accounts were from economically weaker backgrounds and were unaware that their accounts would be used for siphoning off money obtained through cybercrime.

Two suspects from Uttar Pradesh

The Cyber Crime Investigation Cell received a tip that two individuals staying at Hotel Friends in Sector 52 were enticing people to open bank accounts by offering them a commission of Rs 10,000. The two arrested suspects, identified as Devender Kumar Yadav and Sankar Suvan Shukla, also known as Abhay Shukla, are from Uttar Pradesh.