New Delhi, Oct 24 :
The Delhi High Court on Thursday sought a response of businessman Sathish Babu Sana on a plea by the Enforcement Directorate seeking cancellation of the bail granted to him by a trial court in a money laundering case allegedly involving him and meat exporter Moin Qureshi. Justice Chander Shekhar asked Sana to file the reply on the agency’s petition and listed the matter for further hearing on January 29 next year. The ED challenged the trial court’s August 19 order by which Sana was granted bail in the case. Sana, a Hyderabad-based businessman, was arrested by the ED on July 26 and later granted bail by the trial court in the case relating to purported purchase of shares worth Rs 50 lakh of a company linked to Qureshi. Central government standing counsel Amit Mahajan, appearing for the ED, said there was ample material collected by the investigating agency which pointed out that Sana is guilty of the offences under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA). “The present case has involvement of a large number of public servants as well as various private persons who were collecting money on behalf of government servants in order to get them favours in the CBI investigations,” the ED said. The agency said the trial court granted bail to Sana on the ground that co-accused Qureshi has already been released on bail and Sana was assisting the ED in its probe since 2017. However, the trial court’s order granting bail to Qureshi has already been challenged by the ED before the high court and it is listed for hearing on January 29 next year, the agency said. It said the trial court has granted bail to Sana without appreciating the gravity of offence which is serious in nature and claimed that he was not cooperating in the investigation. Sana has also filed a petition in the high court seeking quashing of the money laundering case and it is listed for hearing on November 27.
The CBI’s special probe team, under the then Special Director Rakesh Asthana, had recommended Sana’s arrest in its own case against Qureshi and others.
However, in October last year, the Alok Kumar Verma-led agency registered a case of alleged corruption against Asthana and his subordinates, based on Sana’s complaint. Sana alleged that he had paid a bribe to get relief in the case.
Officials close to Asthana levelled similar allegations against Verma. The matter reached the Central Vigilance Commission (CVC), which initiated an inquiry into the charges and counter-charges.
Eventually, both Verma and Asthana were divested of their powers.
