Ahmedabad: The offer seemed simple: lend a bank account for a month and pocket Rs 15,000. For Kamlesh Talpada, a Nadiad resident desperate for capital to launch his fruit business, it was an easy choice. But when two months passed without payment, he inspected the account, only to discover transactions exceeding Rs 19 lakh. Angered by the deception, Talpada approached police for help to retrieve the Rs 15,000. That single lead blew the lid off an alleged cybercrime syndicate laundering at least Rs 2.2 crore in fraud money through bank accounts allegedly linked to casinos in Goa.Talpada, 35, told Kheda district cybercrime police that he had shared his business woes with his friend Bhavin Darji, an autorickshaw driver. According to the FIR filed on Oct 23, Talpada was told that the account would be used to transfer money received at casinos in Goa and that the arrangement was lawful.“Darji introduced me to Janak Thakkar, a resident of Vadodara, who was said to be arranging bank accounts for the operation. On July 10, he offered to give me the money in exchange for using my savings account for a month. Thakkar said the money would be handed over once the funds reached his accounts,” he told police.Talpada opened an account at a bank branch in Nadiad’s ST Nagar area on July 28.About a week later, after the account was activated, Talpada allegedly handed over its banking kit, account credentials and the SIM card linked to it to Darji and Thakkar.The promised Rs 15,000, however, never arrived.After repeatedly asking for the money, Talpada checked his account on Oct 6 and found transactions worth Rs 19.1 lakh. According to the FIR, the money had entered his account through IMPS transfers from different accounts and was later withdrawn or moved through IMPS, RTGS and UPI transactions.Betrayed and alarmed, Talpada deactivated the SIM card linked to the account and approached the police.He told the cops that two men allegedly visited him on Oct 16 and 19, asking him to reactivate his SIM card to facilitate withdrawals and transfers.Police found that Talpada’s account was allegedly only one part of a wider operation. The complaint records transactions worth Rs 1.5 crore in Darji’s account with another bank, Rs 4.59 lakh in a second account and Rs 1.4 lakh in a third. Another account allegedly recorded transactions worth Rs 47.6 lakh.The five accounts were allegedly used to receive, transfer and conceal money linked to cyberfraud and illegal gaming, the FIR states. The complainant estimated the total amount involved at Rs 2.2 crore.The FIR names three people based in Goa — Vishal Panchal alias Goli, Sajid and Algari — as the intended recipients of the banking kits. It also identifies Hitesh alias Vinayak Panchal, described as an Ahmedabad resident living in Goa, as another contact in the alleged chain.
