ED arrests Sagar Dash in online betting and cyber fraud case, sent to three-day custody

The Mumbai Zonal Office-II of the Enforcement Directorate (ED) has arrested Sagar Dash in a case of online betting and cyber fraud. Dash is believed to be linked to a network run by "All Panel Exchange" (APX). He is suspected of moving criminal proceeds worth hundreds of crores of rupees through cooperative banks, shell entities and cryptocurrency channels.

Dash was arrested on October 27 under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002. A special PMLA court in Mumbai sent him to three days of ED custody. Senior officials say the arrest has led to a fresh investigation of the money trail of this betting network, which is linked to Mumbai, Pune, Bengaluru and other cities.

According to the ED's investigation, three FIRs related to online betting and cyber fraud have been registered. Officials say money collected from victims was routed through several mule accounts at the Jubilee Hills Mercantile Co-operative Bank in Hyderabad. It was then sent to various shell companies, and a large share ended up in the nodal account of the Nagarbhavi Credit Co-operative Society in Bengaluru. Officials say this account was being used for Armstrong Exchange Private Limited, a company set up by Dash himself.

Investigating officers say Dash allegedly used the cooperative society's KYC details and forged documents to open cryptocurrency accounts. Transactions worth hundreds of crores of rupees took place through the society's bank account. Officials say a large part of this appears to be directly linked to proceeds of illegal gaming, betting platforms and cyber fraud.

The Mumbai connection is described as important in the case because the ED's Mumbai zonal office is investigating it. Raids were conducted in Mumbai, Pune, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Surat and Mehsana (Gujarat). Incriminating documents were seized and about Rs 9 crore lying in various bank accounts was frozen. Earlier in the same investigation, the ED arrested Ram U. Ramdhani, chief executive officer of Adsum Fintech Private Limited.

Separately, social activist Santosh Gholap has filed a complaint with eight central agencies. It seeks an in-depth financial investigation into the alleged network of Samudra Singh Rathod, Mukesh Jain, Ramdhani and Dash. The complaint alleges that the operators provided fake bank accounts and UPI IDs for online betting, matka, casino gaming and cyber fraud platforms, enabling large-scale money transfers outside the formal financial system.

The complaint also alleges that the network had financial ties with foreign operators and used hawala and cryptocurrency to send money. These allegations have yet to be separately established by investigating officers.