This is the 7th arrest in the case. Advocate Rashesh Upadhyay Arrested Under PMLA By ED
FinTech BizNews Service
Mumbai, 26 October, 2026: ED arrests advocate acting as key "lien-fixer" for nationwide cyber fraud laundering network while fleeing at Mumbai Airport; 7th arrest in the case Directorate of Enforcement (ED), Panaji Zonal Office, has arrested Rashesh Bharatkumar Upadhyay @ Rashesh Shah, a Mumbai-based advocate, on 24.10.2026 under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002 (PMLA). He was intercepted at the boarding gate of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport, Mumbai, while attempting to leave Mumbai on an early-morning connecting flight to Delhi without any return booking.
The interception was made possible by the active and timely support of Mumbai Customs and the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF). The Hon'ble Special Court (PMLA), North Goa, has remanded him to ED custody till 29.10.2026. ED investigation was initiated on the basis of an FIR registered by the Goa Police in a "Digital Arrest" fraud. Fraudsters impersonating officials of the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India and the Central Bureau of Investigation placed a Goa resident and her husband under continuous video surveillance, showed her a forged order of the Hon'ble Supreme Court, and coerced her into transferring about Rs. 2.6 crore into accounts falsely described as "Secret Supervision Accounts".
ED's investigation traced these proceeds through more than 400 mule accounts into a network of commodity, travel and foreign-exchange companies controlled by Fahim Moin Hussain Sayed and Naim Mueen Sayyed through dummy directors. This network undertook banking transactions of nearly Rs. 28,000 Crore and deposited about Rs. 2,900 Crore in cash. Its bank accounts have surfaced in over 300 victim complaints and more than 160 FIRs across 20 States and Union Territories, involving reported losses of over Rs400 Crore.
Rashesh Upadhyay was a key node of this network. Whenever bank accounts of the network were frozen by law enforcement agencies on cyber fraud complaints, he arranged their release by paying cash bribes to certain suspected officials of the agencies concerned, routed through angadiyas. He fixed the amounts, the collection points and the onward payments. On his own admission, he arranged the unfreezing of about 100 such accounts for various agents, including a payment of over Rs. 60 Lakh in a single instance. By restoring the network's access to frozen fraud proceeds, he kept the money-laundering infrastructure behind digital fraud running across the country. He continued these dealings even after ED's searches, including in respect of accounts frozen by ED, deleted his chats with the coaccused, and switched off all his known mobile numbers before attempting to flee.
Although enrolled as an advocate, he had never appeared or filed any vakalatnama for the co-accused or their companies. He misused his professional standing as a cover for brokering bribes and securing the release of fraud proceeds. Such conduct is not legal practice, and the protection available to communications between an advocate and a client does not extend to communications made in furtherance of an illegal purpose or showing the commission of a crime or fraud.
This is the 7th arrest in the case. ED has earlier arrested six persons, including the two controllers of the network, Fahim Moin Hussain Sayed and Naim Mueen Sayyed, and the agents who supplied banking entries to the network and arranged the release of its frozen accounts. Further investigation is under progress to identify the officials who received the bribes, the angadiyas and other intermediaries involved, and to trace the full extent of the Proceeds of Crime.
