An Enforcement Directorate team from Panaji intercepted Rashesh Upadhyay, alias Rashesh Shah, at Mumbai airport on Saturday while he was boarding a flight to Delhi.
The ED said accounts linked to the alleged network feature in more than 300 complaints by victims and over 160 first information reports across 20 states and Union Territories. (Representative image)
New Delhi,Oct 24, 2026 22:25 IST
The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has arrested an advocate in connection with a money-laundering investigation linked to an alleged pan-India cyber fraud and digital arrest network. The network allegedly handled banking transactions worth nearly Rs 28,000 crore and made cash deposits of about Rs 2,900 crore. The latest action takes the number of arrests in the case to seven.
An ED team from Panaji intercepted Rashesh Upadhyay, also known as Rashesh Shah, at a boarding gate inside Mumbai's Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport on Saturday as he was about to take a flight to Delhi. Customs and Central Industrial Security Force officers assisted the agency in locating him, official sources told PTI.
Upadhyay was taken to Panaji and produced before a special Prevention of Money Laundering Act court, which sent him to ED custody until October 29, the sources said.
The investigation began after Goa Police registered a first information report on June 9, 2025. A Goa-based woman was allegedly placed under digital arrest by cyber fraudsters and duped into transferring Rs 2.60 crore to several mule accounts between May 21 and June 2, 2025, the ED had earlier said.
While seeking Upadhyay's custody, the ED told the court that he was a "key node" in the network. The agency alleged that when bank accounts linked to the cybercrime network were frozen following police complaints, he got them released by bribing officials through "Angadiyas", a private network of individuals dealing in cash.
The ED alleged that Upadhyay had enrolled as an advocate but had never appeared or filed a "Vakalatnama", which authorises a lawyer to represent a client, for any of the accused or their companies.
According to the agency, the money taken from the Goa victim was transferred to 400 mule accounts belonging to commodity, travel and foreign exchange companies operated through dummy directors.
The funds were later withdrawn in cash and converted into foreign currency through money changers licenced by the Reserve Bank of India.
The ED said accounts linked to the alleged network feature in more than 300 complaints by victims and over 160 first information reports across 20 states and Union Territories. The reported losses exceed Rs 400 crore.
The agency is trying to identify the officials who allegedly accepted bribes, the Angadiyas and other intermediaries involved, and trace the full proceeds of the alleged crime.
Digital arrest is a cybercrime in which fraudsters pose as law enforcement officers during audio or video calls, threaten victims and pressure them into transferring money online.
The government has said digital arrest has no legal basis in India and such cases should be reported immediately through the national cybercrime helpline at 1930 or the cybercrime.gov.in portal.
The case centres on an alleged nationwide cyber fraud network involving transactions worth nearly Rs 28,000 crore, with Upadhyay becoming the seventh person arrested as the ED investigates the flow of funds and the alleged role of officials and intermediaries.
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