MUMBAI: A special PMLA court has cleared the Enforcement Directorate’s (ED) bid to bring back Sagar Paresh Mehta, a key accused in the ₹ 177-crore Torres Jewellery money-laundering case, from the United Arab Emirates, where he was arrested after nearly two years on the run.
Additional sessions judge S V Sahare allowed the ED’s application seeking permission to send an extradition proposal for Mehta to the UAE through diplomatic channels. Mehta had been absconding since the money-laundering case was registered and a Red Corner Notice was subsequently issued against him through Interpol. “Looking into the grievous and serious offence against the accused No. The probe stems from an FIR registered by APMC police in Vashi, Navi Mumbai. Mehta was arrested in Dubai in August this year after the Red Corner Notice issued against him was executed. The ED subsequently informed the Mumbai court of his arrest.
3 (Mehta), his presence is required,” the court said while allowing the ED’s application. The ED registered its money-laundering case on January 9, 2025, against Platinum Hern Pvt Ltd, which operated the Torres Jewellery brand, and others. Three more FIRs were later registered at Shivaji Park, Navghar and Rabodi after the investment scheme collapsed in January 2025.
The ED told the court that Mehta had since been arrested in the UAE and that India’s National Central Bureau in New Delhi had been informed of his arrest through Interpol.
In January 2025, a bench of Justices Revati Mohite-Dere and Neela Gokhale ordered police protection for chartered accountant Abhishek Gupta, a whistleblower who had audited Platinum Hern, and questioned the pace of the probe. In November 2025, the special PMLA court issued non-bailable warrants against Mehta and three foreign accused — Oleksandr Zapichenko alias Alex, Olena Stoian and Viktoria Kovalenko — after the ED said they had evaded the investigation. Stoian was later traced to Moldova, where her detention led to a separate extradition process in March 2026.
The case has also been under the scrutiny of the Bombay high court since the early stages of the investigation. The state subsequently informed the high court that all four FIRs would be transferred to the EOW.
The court also said it was open to the police constituting a special investigation team to probe the case.
