LUCKNOW, May 13 -- 'Mule' accounts of a bank's branch in Bareilly district might have laundered large sums of money as part of a 'hawala' racket, senior police officials said on Monday. The officials were investigating a differently abled man from a Bareilly village who was flagged by the Financial Intelligence Unit-India (FIU-IND) for suspicious financial transactions worth over Rs 97 lakh that were made through his bank account. An FIR was then registered against Puneet Kumar under section 66 D of the Information Technology Act, 2000 for cheating by personation using a computer resource with Nawabganj police station last Thursday. A senior police official said several crores of rupees were detected in 25 other salary accounts of small private bank's Bareilly branch. "The accounts, all in the name of different people, were in operation since March this year. The suspicious transactions raise doubts of involvement of a major money laundering or 'hawala' (illegal and unaccounted money transactions) operators' nexus," he added. Another police official privy to the developments explained: "A mule account is a bank account used by criminals to move stolen or illicit funds, often unknowingly by the account holder. The account owner, sometimes called a "money mule", might not be aware that he is facilitating a crime as he is often lured by the promises of easy money and job opportunities." Bareilly senior superintendent of police (SSP) Anurag Arya said the FIU flagged the transactions from Puneet's account as part of its "suspicious transaction reporting" mechanism. "A detailed investigation into the case will connect the dots. If the account holder is found guilty, then appropriate legal action will be taken." According to officials, FIU pointed out the transactions done between July 15 and September 18 of last year to and from bank account registered in the name of Puneet Kumar at the Rampur Garden branch. They said the account showed a pattern where large sums were credited and immediately transferred to other accounts the same day - a trend commonly associated with hawala operations and money laundering. They said the investigation revealed that the financial profile of Puneet Kumar - a partially disabled man from Ratnanandpur- did not align with the magnitude of transactions recorded in his account. His house was modest, built with a thatched roof, and his family was not known to have any substantial permanent income source. The case of Puneet Kumar and earlier reported cases of 25 bank accounts raised alarms over a possible nexus between cybercriminals and hawala operators using vulnerable individuals as pawns. The officials suspected that local agents working on behalf of interstate cybercrime gangs were targeting economically weak individuals by opening bank accounts with latter's Aadhaar and other government documents. These accounts were then used to launder money, and account holders were given a small commission, they alleged....