The Special Task Force (STF) of Odisha Police has arrested one more accused in connection with the mule bank accounts racket.
The arrested was identified as Sourav Maity (30) of the Rampura area under West Medinipur in West Bengal. Maity was arrested on January 15 and has been brought to Bhubaneswar on a transit remand.
The mule bank accounts racket mainly operates in Odisha, Jharkhand and West Bengal. The racket is active in the districts of Baleswar, Mayurbhanj, East Midnapore, West Midnapore, East Sighbhoom, West Singhbhoom and Saraikela. Earlier, the STF had arrested four persons, Sk Hapizul, Sk Jahangir, Sk Jamiruddin and Samim Islam.
The STF said that mule bank accounts racket was being operated by Sk Jamiruddin of West Medinipur. He had employed around 10 to15 people to open bank accounts and was paying them Rs 15000 per month.
The persons recruited by Sk Jamiruddin visited various interior areas of these districts and targeted poor villagers/ tribals and lured them to open bank accounts. The villagers were generally offered Rs 2000 per account for giving their documents and opening the bank accounts. However, the mobile numbers linked with bank accounts were provided by gang members.
According to the STF, the gang then used to sell these bank accounts along with the connected mobile numbers to various Cyber, cyber-financial, sextortion scammers and other criminals based in Kolkata and other parts of India.
The gang also used social media platforms like secret WhatsApp groups, Facebook pages, and Telegram channels to sell the mule bank accounts. They sold mule bank accounts at the rate of Rs 15,000 to Rs 20,000 per account. The gang used to abandon the bank accounts once it reached a transaction of Rs 1 lakh
This exercise being launched in 2018 awarded Odisha for being the ‘Top Performer’ for its support to the Startup Ecosystem in 2019 and in State Startup Ranking-2021, Odisha took a leap yet again to be accorded with the ‘Top Performer’ position for instituting inclusive and holistic policies and schemes to develop entrepreneurs across every corner of the State.
Startup Odisha Executive Chairman, Omkar Rai said, “Odisha’s retention of the ‘Top Performer’ status in the DPIIT State Startup Rankings 2022 is a testament to our unwavering commitment. Under the visionary guidance of CM Naveen Patnaik, we are driven to not just maintain but elevate the capabilities of our Startup ecosystem.”
“Odisha is wholeheartedly dedicated to creating a conducive environment with a new Startup policy which is under consideration, aligning with global best practices, focusing on ESG factors, and promoting women’s entrepreneurship. Our goal is to inspire and support an increasing number of entrepreneurs on their journey,” Dr Rai said.
Startup Odisha has nurtured over 1,800 Start-ups across agritech, IT, artificial intelligence, healthcare, fintech, and biotechnology sectors out of which 42% are women led Startups. The Startup Odisha is on its way to foster at least 5,000 Startups by 2025
The State hosts 27 incubators and among them is O-Hub, the Government of Odisha’s incubator, featuring an expansive four lakh sqft space—one of the largest incubators in the entire country. At present, there are 75 active Entrepreneurship Cells (E-cells) and 93 incubates.