Hyderabad police bust mule bank accounts gang; 8 held, Rs 24.10 crore fraud exposed

Hyderabad: The Cyber Crime Police, Hyderabad City, along with the Commissioner’s Task Force, East Zone, arrested an eight-member gang involved in opening and supplying 127 mule bank accounts to cyber scammers.

These accounts were used to route over Rs 24.10 crore in fraudulent transactions. The key cyber fraudsters—Kannaiah, Ramesh, and Poonam, all from Rajasthan—are currently absconding.

The accused have been identified as:

1. Poojari Jagadish @ Jaggu, 31, Auto Driver, Boduppal

2. Gurudas Sunil Kumar, 40, Auto Driver, Boduppal

3. Gunti Manideep, 27, Auto Driver, Boduppal

4. Parlapalli Nikhil, 29, Delivery Boy, Uppal

5. Bollu Balu, 21, Hardware Technician, Bibinagar

6. Battula Pavan, 24, Photographer, Amberpet

7. Polas Praveen, 29, Delivery Boy, Boduppal

8. Bilavath Balaji Naik, 27, BDE, Karur Vysya Bank, Jubilee Hills

Modus operandi

The accused opened multiple bank accounts using Aadhaar and PAN details of themselves, their family members and acquaintances.

All account kits were handed over to cyber fraudsters in return for commissions. Police seized passbooks, ATM cards, cheque books, SIM cards, courier receipts, a biometric device, a tablet and mobile phones during the operation.

A total of Rs 16.31 lakh has been traced and frozen, and 21 NCRP petitions have been linked to these mule accounts. The gang is connected to multiple cases across Telangana, Karnataka and Rajasthan.

The Cyber Crime Police strongly advise the public not to open bank accounts for others or share banking credentials, as such actions may facilitate cybercrime and attract legal consequences.