NEW DELHI, October 10, 2026 – The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has arrested the chairman of a prominent Delhi-based media and broadcast company in connection with a high-profile money laundering case linked to alleged irregularities in the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC) processes.
Officials confirmed on Saturday that Rakesh Kumar Gupta, the 63-year-old Chairman of the Sadhna Group, was taken into custody under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) late Friday night in Delhi. Following his arrest, the central agency produced Gupta before Additional Sessions Judge Saurabh Pratap Singh Laler in Ghaziabad around 2:00 AM on Saturday. The court subsequently remanded him to five days of ED custody, though the agency had initially sought a seven-day remand.
The ED’s money laundering probe stems from a First Information Report (FIR) registered in September by the Economic Offences Wing (EOW) of the Delhi Police. According to the police complaint, Gupta allegedly engineered a fraudulent insolvency process for Sadhna Media Pvt. Ltd. (SMPL). It is alleged that he manipulated the Committee of Creditors (CoC), where related parties held a 99.41 per cent stake, to settle a massive Income Tax due of ₹110.10 crore for a mere ₹20 lakh.
Further charges accuse the businessman of receiving over ₹2 crore in cash via hawala and cryptocurrency transactions during the resale of SMPL/Aryan TV. He is also accused of directing SMPL to pay ₹4.48 crore to connected creditors, which notably included a ₹2.99 crore payment to his own firm, Sharpline Broadcast. The ED informed the court that the total proceeds of crime in this complex case stand at a staggering ₹168 crore.
The ED also cited a May 2025 order by the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI), which labeled Gupta the “mastermind” behind the manipulation of Sadhna Broadcast shares, making him jointly and severally liable for approximately ₹58 crore.
During the late-night hearing, the defense counsel argued that neither the Income Tax Department nor SEBI had filed direct criminal complaints against Gupta, adding that he possessed a no-dues certificate from the tax authorities and had paid the SEBI penalty. However, the court firmly rejected these arguments, stating that an ED probe cannot be deemed illegal simply because there is no direct complaint from other regulatory bodies.
The court noted that an investigation into the matter was “necessary” given the alleged loss to the exchequer of over ₹100 crore, observing that the money trail reportedly bypassed formal banking channels and required thorough custodial interrogation to confront the accused with seized digital evidence.
Published by True Roots Media Network