Mule hunt nets three more as 1,500cr trail unravels

Rajkot: Rajkot Rural police's "Operation Mule Hunt" dealt a blow to a cyberfraud network, with the arrest of three more suspects, including a key perpetrator from Telangana.The latest arrests brought to light money laundering using bank accounts linked to firms registered with the Agricultural Produce Market Committee, with the amount involved rising from an initial estimate of Rs 400 crore to Rs 1,500 crore.The Cyber Crime cell team apprehended Adiluddin Mohammad from Telangana, identified as a key player, along with two Rajkot residents, Mihir Rangani and Hiren Limbasiya.According to Rajkot rural superintendent of police Vijay Singh Gurjar, the investigation found that of the Rs 1,500 crore in funds processed using these accounts, Rs 23.14 crore was linked to about 180 cyberfraud complaints from across the country registered on the national helpline. Gujarat accounted for about Rs 2.94 crore of this reported fraud, with 21 complaints against the bank accounts used.The arrest of Adiluddin Mohammad followed the interrogation of suspects arrested earlier — Manish Kamani, Jay Nadpara, Rishi Raiyani, Praveensingh Parmar, Mayursingh Vaghela and Mahendrasinh Jadeja — whose statements pointed to the Telangana operative. Adiluddin was tracked down and apprehended using technical and human intelligence.According to police, Adiluddin set up the network of those arrested earlier, who lent bank accounts, withdrew money deposited in them and sent it to him through a courier. Adiluddin sent the money to his higher-ups using various channels. "Adiluddin allegedly set up firms called Al Adin, Al Munir and Al Fazil with police discovering approximately Rs 23 crore deposited in five accounts linked to these entities. Investigations said the funds in these accounts came from cyberfraud, GST fraud and illegal gaming," said a police officer.The probe also implicated Rangani, who owns a firm named Lauril Agri Export. Two of his bank accounts linked to the APMC, had deposits of around Rs 87 crore, with cyberfraud complaints worth over Rs 1 crore mentioning them.Limbasiya was identified as a mediator whose primary task was managing transactions across all bank accounts under Mihir Rangani and Manish Kamani.The Cyber Cell is investigating both the cyberfraud and GST fraud angles. According to police, these accused got an APMC licence so they could claim to be agri-produce traders who require large sums of cash. They ran the racket under the cover of the APMC to avoid suspicion from bank officials and the authorities.