Mumbai Police bust interstate racket supplying ₹25.45 crore ‘mule’ accounts for cyber fraud

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Mumbai police arrested three agents involved in an inter-state racket on August 20, 2026, outside Sandhurst Road railway station for allegedly creating 'mule bank account’ kits used for cyber fraud by luring people with the promise of earnings through online gaming, cricket betting, and casinos.

Transactions worth ₹25.45 crore were traced across 17 retrieved bank accounts within a span of around 2 months.

The case was registered at Dongri police station under Sections 318(4), 317, 3(5) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), 2023 read with Sections 66(c) and 66(d) of the Information Technology Act, 2000.

According to Manish Kalwaniya, Deputy Commissioner of Police, Zone-1, these agents would allegedly lure people who were in need of urgent finances to open bank accounts in their names with minor financial incentives. They took their passbooks, debit cards, chequebooks, SIM cards, and other documents, which were used to facilitate their financial transactions in cyber frauds.

According to the police, the three agents who would prepare these mule account kits were from Madhya Pradesh. Nikhil Kamalkumar Jaswani, 28, Rahul Shyamlal Parwani, 32, and Jay Biharilal Teerthani, 26, were arrested outside Sandhurst Road Railway Station. They have been given judicial custodyFive more are wanted in the case. Three women sub-agents who were questioned and issued notices under Section 35(3) of the BNSS. They have been asked to assist in the investigation.

Out of a total of 110 seized bank accounts, information regarding 17 bank accounts has been received from the respective banks. Financial transactions worth approximately ₹25.45 crore were traced across these 17 bank accounts within a span of just 1.5 to 2 months.

At least 38 cyber crimes registered across Maharashtra, Karnataka, Telangana, Delhi, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Gujarat, Jammu and Kashmir, and West Bengal were linked to these accounts.

42 bank passbooks, 70 debit cards, 36 SIM cards, 23 mobile phones, three laptops, one tablet, 12 bank kits, and one motor car, valuing approximately ₹50 lakh has been seized.

An in-depth financial investigation is underway regarding the source of the funds, transaction routes, beneficiary accounts, associated individuals, and their links to cyber crimes. The scope of the investigation has expanded to Govandi, Mankhurd, and Dongri areas in Mumbai, as well as Belapur and Panvel in Navi Mumbai, and Osmanabad, to find more individuals and transactions possibly linked to this network.

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