Mule account racket busted, Cops arrest 2 from Khamla area

150 Accounts Used To Fund Banned Betting AppsNagpur: A special squad of the zonal DCP Rishikesh Singa Reddy busted a city-based mule account racket with pan-India and international links. Cops arrested two persons who allegedly created and operated more than 150 bank accounts in the last two months. Sources said that over Rs100 crore was routed through these accounts to banned online betting and gaming applications run from China, Pakistan and Dubai.The mastermind, Shantosh Chaitwani (35), a resident of Sindhi Colony in Khamla, and his accomplice Vicky Waghmare (32), also from the same locality, were arrested in an operation led by sub-inspector Deepak Pawar and head constable Anand Wankhede with the help of a team from Bajaj Nagar police station.The duo was found in possession of multiple passbooks, ATM cards, SIM cards, and phones. Police sources said Chaitwani and Waghmare worked for handlers based in Haryana, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Goa and New Delhi. These handlers used the mule accounts to receive and move funds for banned mobile gaming, online cricket betting and other sports betting apps operated from overseas.According to investigators, the two accused paid around Rs15,000 to individuals for using their SIM cards, PAN cards, Aadhaar cards and other personal details. Later, they created mule accounts in the names of these individuals and forwarded the account details to the handlers spread across the country.For every savings account created, the accused received Rs 20,000 from the handlers. For current accounts, which could handle larger financial volumes, they were paid Rs40,000. Sources confirmed that transactions over Rs100 crore were carried out through these 150 accounts over the past two months.The mule account holders belong to Nagpur, Chandrapur, Andhra, Wardha and other places. Chaitwani and Waghmare have been remanded in custody till Aug 15.