The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has arrested Rakesh Kumar Gupta, chairman of Delhi-based Sadhna Group, in a money laundering case linked to alleged irregularities in insolvency proceedings under the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC), officials said on Saturday.
The 63-year-old was arrested in Delhi on Friday under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) and was subsequently produced before a court in Ghaziabad in the early hours of Saturday. The court remanded him to five days of ED custody, while the agency had sought seven days.
The money laundering case against Gupta and others stems from a September FIR filed by the Economic Offences Wing (EOW) of the Delhi Police.
It was alleged in the police complaint that Gupta engineered the insolvency of Sadhna Media Pvt. Ltd. (SMPL) through related creditors holding 99.41 per cent of the Committee of Creditors (CoC) so that Income Tax dues of Rs 110.10 crore were settled for Rs 20 lakh.
The other charges against the businessman include receipt of over Rs 2 crore in cash through crypto currency/hawala on the resale of SMPL/Aryan TV. He allegedly led SMPL to pay Rs 4.48 crore to connected creditors, including Rs 2.99 crore to his own company named Sharpline Broadcast.
As per the police complaint furnished by the ED to the court in its remand papers, SEBI issued an order in May 2025 calling Gupta the "mastermind" of the "manipulation" of shares of Sadhna Broadcast "jointly and severally liable" for about Rs 58 crore.
The ED told the court that the alleged proceeds of crime in this case stands at Rs 168 crore.
The defence counsel argued before the court that neither the SEBI nor the Income Tax Department made a complaint against Gupta and that he even obtained a no dues certificate from the tax department. The counsel added that the SEBI imposed a penalty against him which was paid.
The court rejected these arguments, saying the action taken by the ED cannot be said to be illegal "merely because there is no complaint by the SEBI or the I-T department."
"The order of SEBI though stated to be under challenge indicates that the complaint has some basis and it is not that the case has been made with nothing there to be investigated."
"It was also argued that the NCLT order passed (in relation to the said media company) in 2024 has not been challenged, however, the same cannot be the basis to stop the ED from investigating the allegations as alleged, where there is loss to the exchequer of over Rs 100 crore," the court said in its order.
It added that the investigation in such a matter was "necessary" and the arrest was found to be in accordance with law.
The court said the money trail runs "outside" banking channels and the seized device data has not yet been put to the accused and these tasks cannot be completed in judicial custody.
(With inputs from PTI)