The Enforcement Directorate (ED) investigation has revealed that Mehmood Bhagad, also known as ‘Challenger King,’ a fugitive and alleged mastermind in the Malegaon money laundering case, is a major operator and facilitator of illegal money laundering. He played a crucial role in transferring funds generated from extortion, online gaming, illegal betting, forex trading, digital arrests and various cybercrime syndicates. Bhagad was instrumental in moving cybercrime proceeds across multiple countries.
Officials cast Bhagad as the ultimate middleman, a puppet master ensuring cybercrime cash flowed effortlessly into offshore havens and India’s financial underbelly. The most critical aspect of Bhagad’s operations was the creation of complex financial channels to conceal illicit funds and route them through foreign networks, making it nearly impossible to trace the origins of the fraudulent earnings of black money.
According to the officials, Bhagad, now a ghost in the wind, was directly associated with multiple criminal syndicates, aiding in the movement of fraudulent earnings across international jurisdictions. He allegedly played a crucial role in routing fraudulent earnings across international networks, ensuring the seamless transfer of cybercrime proceeds into offshore accounts and domestic financial systems. The investigation has revealed that Bhagad was responsible for remitting funds from various criminal activities abroad through his vast network of shell companies, mule accounts, fake bank accounts under multiple identities, bogus firms, software companies, and overseas business entities.
Additionally, he operated a team of entry operators—financial fixers skilled in crafting illusions— who handled the grunt work, managing accounts and shuttling funds abroad. Bhagad’s network didn’t just move money but it scrubbed it clean, turning crime’s profits into assets that gleamed with legitimacy.
Investigations further revealed that Bhagad earned several crores of rupees through various criminal syndicates involved in betting, gaming, online fraud, and forex trading. His illicit operations spanned multiple international financial jurisdictions,highlighting the alarming global reach of cyber-enabled financial crimes.
ED investigation reveals that Bhagad’s network operated through hawala channels, digital wallets, and offshore bank accounts, enabling seamless fund transfers while masking the origins of the illicit money. His operations extended across multiple financial jurisdictions.
The investigation’s bombshell came with the arrest of five of Bhagad’s lieutenants including Seraj Ahmed Mohammad Haroon Memon, Nagani Akram Mohammad Shafi (alias Monu), Vasim Vali Momad Bhesaniya (alias Sanju), Sharif Miya Amirmiya Shaikh and Mohsin Ahmed Khilji, who were allegedly managing Bhagad’s operation of illicit accounts.Cash transfer along with a network of hawala operators revealed during the interrogation that before cybercrime units could slam the red-flagged brakes on transactions tied to betting, gaming, or fraud, Bhagad’s lieutenants, acting on his whispered orders, rerouted cash via RTGS and banking channels into a web of Agricultural Produce Market Committee (APMC) dummy firms. The bogus APMC firms exploited the sector’s customary large cash transactions to withdraw substantial sums without detection. This allowed the routing, diversion, and layering of hundreds of crores under the guise of agricultural trading.
Investigators found that large sums were funneled through these APMC-linked accounts under the pretense of business transactions. The withdrawn money was subsequently handed over to hawala operators for further laundering and remittance as proceeds of crime (POC).
ED pegs the APMC siphon at over Rs 198 crore, a staggering abuse of accounts meant for farmers, now a laundering highway for cyber loot.
Apart from the several bogus APMC firms transactions, carrying out banking transactions through various shell entities and managing the mule accounts, Bhagad was deeply involved carrying out concealed illicit financial movements arranging bank credits in exchange for cash, trading USDT and cryptocurrencies on the black market, and running hawala pipelines within India and abroad.
Furthermore, investigators have flagged several suspicious transactions linked to real estate investments and shell companies, allegedly used to launder illicit wealth. Public trusts have also come under scrutiny for their possible involvement in the financial operations of the network.
It was also found during the investigation that Bhagad’s instructions were relayed through encrypted voice notes on social messaging platforms, including WhatsApp, to manage and execute the syndicate’s financial operations.
