The East Kutch police has busted a gang that operated over 20 mule accounts and arrested two accused, Narendra Rajput from Gandhidham and Pramod Kumar, alias Ashish Jangir, from Ahmedabad.

As per information provided, the arrested individuals used 18 bank accounts from Gandhidham, 4 from Ahmedabad, and 1 from Modasa, totalling 23 bank accounts to commit fraud on unsuspecting customers.

Rajput has been implicated in a nationwide fraud scheme after a complaint revealed the full extent of the scam. He used his friends’ bank accounts to orchestrate the scheme, renting a total of 23 bank accounts in a span of two-and-a-half months, with transactions amounting to ₹12.24 crore from these accounts.

The police seized bank passbooks, ATM cards, and four SIM cards from the accused. Police are also on the lookout for Hasmita Thakkar, based in Gurukul, Ahmedabad, who is also allegedly involved in the account rental scheme. 

A complaint was filed with the Cyber Crime Unit in East Kutch by Chirag Sadhu from Sundarpuri, Gandhidham. Sadhu reported that Rajput, who is his friend, sought his bank account for 2-3 days due to some pending payments. 

Rajput convinced Sadhu to open a new account at Karnataka Bank and took a new SIM, ATM card, and passbook. Later, he claimed that the account was blocked and suggested opening another account at Bank of Maharashtra to access the funds, which led to the fraud being exposed. 

Investigations revealed transactions amounting to over ₹90 lakh in one account, prompting the Cyber Crime police to act.

Following the complaint, Rajput was apprehended. It was discovered that there were seven complaints from different states related to Sadhu’s account. During questioning, Rajput admitted to acquiring new SIM cards from 18 individuals in Gandhidham and five others in Modasa and Ahmedabad and opening 23 different accounts across banks.

All the bank account kits and ATM cards were handed over to Jangir, with some provided to Thakkar and Raj Dhanwani from Adipur. 

The police have frozen the 23 accounts involved in the scam. East Kutch SP Sagar Bagmare stated that this gang had rented out 23 bank accounts and accumulated ₹12,24,27,107.

The arrested individuals procured and provided bank accounts, while Dhanwani, the mastermind, was responsible for the final execution of the fraud. The police are currently searching for Thakkar and Dhanwani to uncover the full scope of the scam and its operation.

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