PANAJI
The Enforcement Directorate, Panaji, has arrested three alleged key operatives of a nationwide money-laundering network involved in “digital arrest” and investment frauds worth Rs 417.49 crore.
The accused have been identified as Mumbai-based Chartered Accountant Bhushan Suryakant Moye, 47, and alleged cash-conversion agents Shailesh Dagdu Chavan, 38, and Vilas Narayan Pawar, 61. They were produced before the Special PMLA Court at Merces, North Goa, which granted the ED custody of the three till September 1. The case was triggered by a complaint from a Margao resident, who allegedly lost more than Rs 2.60 crore between May 21 and June 2, 2025. The fraudsters allegedly posed as officials of the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India and the Central Bureau of Investigation, kept the woman and her husband under continuous video surveillance, produced a forged Supreme Court order and coerced them into transferring their life savings to purported “Secret Supervision Accounts”. "The money was first routed through nine primary conduit bank accounts before being rapidly split and layered through more than 400 mule accounts, ATM withdrawals and UPI channels," the ED said. It added that further tracing of the funds exposed a wider network about travel, commodity and foreign-exchange entities. The syndicate allegedly carried out transactions exceeding Rs 27,850 crore through various bank accounts and deposited nearly Rs 2,904 crore cash.
"Data cross-checked with the Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre revealed 330 victim complaints and 163 FIRs registered across 20 States and Union Territories in connection with the accounts. It reported losses of Rs 417.49 crore," the ED said.
Around Rs 27.67 crore has so far been lien-marked or frozen by law-enforcement agencies in different parts of the country. The ED said the three arrested accused were allegedly involved in the network’s operations and conversion of fraud proceeds. The alleged masterminds behind the corporate network, brothers Fahim Moin Hussain Sayed and Naim Moin Hussain Sayed, were arrested by the ED on August 23.
