Bank manager held for cyber fraud mule account with Rs 68 cr deals

Delhi Police's Cyber Police Station arrested a cooperative bank's Deputy Manager, Pabitra Kumar Biswal, for facilitating a mule account. The account was linked to 159 cyber fraud complaints and had transactions of nearly Rs 68 crore.

Delhi Police's Cyber Police Station in East District has arrested a Deputy Manager of a cooperative bank for allegedly facilitating the opening and operation of a mule account linked to 159 cyber fraud complaints reported across the country, officials said on Wednesday.

According to police, the account was used to receive and route proceeds of cyber frauds and witnessed transactions worth approximately Rs 67.92 crore. Two mobile phones were recovered from the accused during the investigation. The accused has been identified as Pabitra Kumar Biswal (42), a Deputy Manager at National Urban Cooperative Bank. Police said he was arrested after an investigation revealed alleged violations of Know Your Customer (KYC) norms and mandatory verification procedures during the opening of the account.

How the Scam Came to Light

The case came to light during scrutiny of complaints reported on the National Cyber Crime Reporting Portal (NCRP), where a bank account maintained at the New Kondli branch of the cooperative bank repeatedly surfaced in cyber fraud cases registered from different parts of the country. Considering the gravity of the matter, a team of officials from Cyber Police Station, East District, conducted an inquiry and subsequently registered FIR No. 41/2026 under relevant provisions of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS).

Investigation Reveals Fraudulent Account

During the investigation, police found that the account was maintained in the name of Mahakal Enterprises and was purportedly opened in the name of Shailendra Kumar Yadav. However, when questioned, Yadav allegedly denied opening the account, visiting the bank branch or signing any account opening documents.

Police said verification established that Yadav was not present at the bank during the relevant period and that the signatures on the account opening forms did not match his admitted signatures.

The investigation further revealed that the identity and credentials of Yadav were allegedly misused to open the account without his knowledge or consent.

Manager's Role and Ongoing Probe

According to police, examination of bank records showed that the account opening process had been verified and approved under the authority of Biswal.

During interrogation, the accused allegedly admitted that he had neither physically verified the firm nor visited the address mentioned in the account opening documents.

Police said the account was opened without proper verification of the applicant and without compliance with prescribed KYC and customer due diligence requirements.

Analysis of bank transactions revealed that approximately Rs 67.92 crore had been credited to and routed through the account.

Further investigation is underway to identify other beneficiaries, facilitators, bank accounts and individuals allegedly involved in the larger cyber fraud network, police said. (ANI)

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by Asianet Newsable English staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)