A cybercrime network allegedly used bank accounts opened or controlled in villagers' names to move more than ₹35 lakh linked to online frauds across India, according to Balangir Police, who have arrested four people and seized a substantial trove of banking and mobile equipment in the process.
How Villagers' Accounts Allegedly Became a Fraud Pipeline
According to police accounts cited by local media, the network operated partly out of Raipur and allegedly arranged mule bank accounts in the names of other people, with some account holders reportedly paid commissions simply for allowing their accounts to be used. The case was registered on September 4 at the Balangir Cyber Crime and Economic Offences Police Station, with the investigation reportedly beginning after inputs from the Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre (I4C) flagged accounts connected to cybercrime complaints filed from different parts of the country.
Investigators have so far traced transactions exceeding ₹35 lakh through the suspected network. The accounts were allegedly linked to proceeds from several distinct kinds of cyber fraud, fake investment schemes, digital-arrest scams, OLX-related fraud, and malicious APK scams, suggesting this single network of mule accounts may have serviced multiple, otherwise unrelated fraud operations simultaneously.
Who Was Arrested
Four people have been arrested following the investigation: Prakash Sharma alias Chatnu and Sunny Barve, both from Raipur in Chhattisgarh, along with Prasanna Kumar Nag and Jubaraj Deep from Balangir district. Police also seized 22 cheque books, 25 bank passbooks, 10 debit cards, and five mobile phones during the operation, a haul that points to a genuinely organised operation rather than a handful of isolated accounts.
Several alleged associates remain under investigation. Police have named Aditya Dubey among those they're trying to trace, while local reports indicate other suspected members have either escaped or remain outside custody. Investigators say members of the network also allegedly used online identities like "Kalki," "Avatar," "Ravan," and "Joker," relying on virtual SIM-based WhatsApp accounts, a setup that can complicate identification since the communication account isn't necessarily tied to a conventional, locally registered physical SIM.
What a Mule Bank Account Actually Is
A mule account is essentially an ordinary bank account criminals use to receive or transfer money obtained from victims, a temporary transit point rather than a destination. A victim might send ₹2 lakh to what appears to be someone's legitimate savings account; that money can then be split, moved through several other accounts, or withdrawn entirely before investigators or banks have a chance to freeze it.
The account holder in these cases may be genuinely part of the fraud, may have rented or sold access to their account, or may in some cases have been misled into handing over control without fully understanding the consequences. This intermediary layer matters because it separates the person who actually contacts and deceives the victim from whoever ultimately controls the stolen proceeds, moving funds through multiple accounts makes the money trail considerably harder to follow, and buys organised networks valuable time to cash out before enforcement catches up.
Part of a Much Larger Statewide Pattern
The Balangir arrests aren't an isolated case. Odisha Police launched Operation Cyber Kavach earlier this year specifically to target mule accounts, fake SIMs, and the broader financial infrastructure supporting online fraud. By March 2026, the state police reported having verified 39,714 suspected mule accounts under the operation and arrested 379 people, 349 of those arrests tied directly to mule accounts, with the remainder linked to fake SIMs, ATM withdrawals, and cheque-related activity.
The scale of this crackdown illustrates why investigators are increasingly focused on dismantling the payment infrastructure around cybercrime, rather than solely chasing down the individual who makes the fraudulent phone call. A similar network surfaced in Indore this month, where police found access to a single bank account had allegedly been sold for ₹2,000, resold for ₹5,000, then resold again for ₹10,000, before ultimately being linked to cyber-fraud cases in Andhra Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh. In another Indore case, investigators tied a mule account to complaints spanning 15 states and transactions estimated at ₹1.5 crore.
Where the Balangir Investigation Goes From Here
This investigation is now moving upward through the chain, from the mule-account holders toward whoever is actually coordinating the network above them. Police say the fuller picture, including the total scale of transactions and the identities of those controlling the network, may become clearer once the remaining suspects are located and questioned.
FAQs
Q1. How much money has been traced through this network so far?
More than ₹35 lakh, linked to accounts used across several types of cyber fraud including fake investment schemes and digital-arrest scams.
Q2. How many people have been arrested in the Balangir case?
Four people: Prakash Sharma, Sunny Barve, Prasanna Kumar Nag, and Jubaraj Deep, with police continuing to search for other alleged associates.
Q3. What is a mule bank account?
An ordinary bank account used by criminals to receive or transfer money stolen from fraud victims, often with the account holder paid a commission or, in some cases, misled into giving up control.
Q4. How widespread is Odisha's crackdown on mule accounts?
By March 2026, Odisha Police had verified 39,714 suspected mule accounts and arrested 379 people under Operation Cyber Kavach, part of a much broader statewide effort against cyber-fraud infrastructure.