Gang offering students ‘scholarship’ to open mule bank accounts for cybercrime busted, 5 in Karnataka Police net

The Karnataka Police announced Monday that they have arrested five people on charges of luring unsuspecting students with fake scholarships and making them open mule bank accounts for transferring proceeds of cybercrime.

The racket was said to be primarily operating in Gadag city.

The arrested accused have been identified as Vakdoth Vakeel, 24, and Raja, 23, both residents of Huvina Hadagali taluk in Karnataka’s Vijayanagara district, Zeeshan Ansari alias Zeesu, 22, a hotel worker from Jharkhand who was residing in Goa, Akash, 32, a DJ from Bilaspur, Chhattisgarh, and Sahil Tekchandani, 22, a student from Bilaspur.

According to the police, the gang targeted students staying at a boys’ hostel in Gadag.

Posing as benefactors, they lured the students with false promises of scholarship money, convincing them to open accounts at a Bank of Maharashtra branch in Gadag city.

To make the scheme appear legitimate, the gang deposited Rs 2,000 into each newly opened account.

Once the accounts were active, they collected the passbooks, ATM cards, and internet banking credentials from the students – effectively getting complete control of the accounts.

The Gadag CEN police registered an FIR on March 11 and initially arrested Vakeel and Raja.

Mahanthesh Sajjan, Deputy Superintendent of Police, Gadag CEN police, said they kept an eye on the duo and nabbed them when they were heading to Goa to hand over the kits of eight mule accounts to their handler.

The handler has only been identified as Kumar, a resident of Attikatti Tanda in Gadag district, and remains at large.

During the probe, Vakeel and Raja spilled the names of other accused.

The police subsequently arrested the other three accused and seized 11 mobile phones, along with 18 bank kits.

“Going by the transactions, we believe that the mule accounts were used for illegal gaming money transactions and cybercrimes.

It looks like the kingpin of the crime is someone else, and these people used to get a commission for providing mule accounts,” a police officer said.

A case has been registered under Section 66(D) of the Information Technology Act, 2008, and Sections 318, 319(2), 61(2), and 112 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita.

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