Three held after cops find mule accounts used for cyberfraud

Vadodara: Panchmahal police arrested three persons, including a branch manager of Panchmahal District Cooperative Bank (PDCB) who was fired, while probing a mule bank account allegedly used in cyberfraud cases.

The accused were identified after Shehra police scrutinized suspicious bank accounts on the Samanvaya portal, a platform used for tracking cybercrime-related transactions. During the investigation, police traced certain accounts operated by Adarsh Shukla and Jishu Mishra, who were living in Pandesara.

During questioning, the duo allegedly revealed the involvement of Sapan Parikh, a former branch manager of PDCB.

Police said Parikh facilitated the opening of four bank accounts in a span of a month while serving as a contracted employee of the bank. Investigators found that the accounts were opened without proper verification documents, including rent agreements for the addresses submitted during the account-opening process.

Parikh was subsequently fired by the bank after these irregularities came to light.

According to Shehra police inspector H V Sisara, the accounts were later used for cyberfraud, for which a case was registered in Shehra in Dec 2025.

The three accused were arrested and interrogated further, during which they allegedly disclosed the names of two more persons — Ashok Sen from Surat and Rahul Baria from Dahod.

Police said Sen had earlier been arrested for another offence and the authorities are verifying whether he is still in judicial custody. Efforts are underway to trace Baria, Sisara added.