Panaji: The Enforcement Directorate’s (ED) Panaji zonal office has arrested Mumbai-based lawyer Rashesh Bharatkumar Upadhyay, also known as Rashesh Shah, for his alleged role in a cyber fraud and money-laundering racket involving over Rs 30,000 crore. The scam spans around 300 complainants across 20 states and Union Territories, and this is the seventh arrest in the case.ED alleges Upadhyay acted as a key “lien-fixer” for a nationwide laundering network, helping cyber fraudsters unfreeze frozen bank accounts by paying bribes to suspected officials. He was arrested under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002 (PMLA) on Oct 24 while attempting to flee from Mumbai airport. According to the ED, it intercepted him at the boarding gate of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport as he tried to board an early-morning connecting flight to Delhi without a return booking. The interception was carried out with support from Mumbai Customs and the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF).A special court (PMLA), North Goa, has remanded him in ED custody until Oct 29.The investigation began after an FIR by Goa police in a ‘digital arrest’ fraud. In that case, fraudsters allegedly impersonated officials from the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India and the Central Bureau of Investigation, kept a Goa resident couple under continuous video surveillance, showed the woman a forged Supreme Court order, and coerced her into transferring about Rs 2.6 crore into accounts described as “secret supervision accounts”.ED says it traced the proceeds through more than 400 mule accounts into a network of commodity, travel, and foreign-exchange companies allegedly controlled by Fahim Moin Hussain Sayed and Naim Mueen Sayyed using dummy directors. Both alleged network controllers were arrested earlier.ED describes Upadhyay as a “key node” who allegedly stepped in whenever law-enforcement agencies froze accounts linked to cyber-fraud complaints. Investigators claim he negotiated bribe amounts, decided collection points, arranged onward payments, and — by his own admission — facilitated the unfreezing of about 100 accounts, including one instance involving a payment of more than Rs 60 lakh. ED also alleges he continued these dealings even after ED searches, including in cases where ED itself had frozen accounts.Although enrolled as an advocate, ED said he never appeared in court or filed any vakalatnama for the co-accused or their companies, and instead used his professional standing as cover to broker bribes and help secure the release of suspected fraud proceeds. ED added that police are working to identify the officials allegedly involved.
