Moin Qureshi case and CBI muck

CBI Director Alok Verma and Special Director Rakesh Asthana (Photo credit: Twitter)

The Income Tax officials conducted raided at multiple locations in February 2014 related to meat exporter Moin Qureshi, a Kanpur-based businessman. The CBI registered a case against Moin Qureshi three years later in February 2017. The case was being handled by a Special Investigation Team (SIT) headed by Special Director of CBI Rakesh Asthana, the number two in the agency.  

Moin Qureshi case already had already former CBI Director AP Singh in soup. His BlackBerry Messenger messages with AP Singh finally led to the latter’s resignation as member of the UPSC. His predecessor Ranjit Sinha was also in the soup for his alleged proximity to and friendship with Moin Qureshi. Ranjit Sinha had come under the scanner for having been allegedly found to have paid unofficial visits to Moin Qureshi.

Now, the CBI has lodged an FIR (October 16 or October 17) naming Rakesh Asthana as accused number one in a case of bribery. The case is linked to Moin Qureshi indirectly.

The CBI is investigating a Hyderabad-based businessman Sana Satish’s role in Moin Qureshi case. Rakesh Asthana headed SIT is looking into Sana Satish’s involvement in the case. In a parallel development, Sana Satish lodged a complaint with the CBI against a Dubai-based middleman Manoj Prasad, who was arrested by the agency on October 16 in Delhi.

Sana Satish gave a statement to a CBI magistrate on October 4 claiming that he was being harassed by the CBI officials and forced to pay bribe to get relief in the case and investigation. Sana Satish named Rakesh Asthana, Manoj Prasad and a Somesh Srivastava – relative of Manoj Prasad.

Sana Satish gave details of how he paid a bribe of Rs 3 crore between December 2017 and October 2018 – over 10 months to stay away from the CBI case. Sana Satish turned against the CBI and others after he was allegedly asked to pay more. The latest payment was made by Sana Satish on October 9 of Rs 5 lakh. The money was paid to a conduit in order to stay away from questioning by the CBI and relief from appearing before the SIT.

Meat trader Moin Qureshi

Sana Satish got the promised relief following which Manoj Prasad travelled to Delhi from Dubai. Manoj Prasad had come to Delhi allegedly to collect Rs 1.75 crore (accumulated bribery amount). Another CBI team apprehended Manoj Prasad.

On the basis of questioning of Manoj Prasad, the CBI lodged an FIR against its own number two. The CBI has put telephone intercepts, WhatsApp messages, money trail and a statement under Section 164 as evidence against Rakesh Asthana. Manoj Prasad has reportedly told the CBI that he was accepting bribes on the behalf Moin Qureshi for Rakesh Asthana.

A R&AW official, Special Director Samant Kumar Goel’s name has also been mentioned in the FIR but not as an accused. Samant Kumar Goel is, incidentally, number two in the R&AW. 

Samant Kumar Goel is said to be close to Manoj Prasad and Somesh Srivastava. He had been in regular touch with both Manoj Prasad and Somesh Srivastava. Samant Kumar Goel’s role is under investigation of the CBI. Samant Kumar Goel is also said to be close to Moin Qureshi and believed to have been meeting the latter regularly in Dubai.

The directors of both the agencies – Alok Verma of the CBI and AK Dhasmana of the R&AW have moved files to the PMO seeking action against Rakesh Asthana and Samant Kumar Goel respectively. 

Alok Verma wants Rakesh Asthana suspended while Dhasmana wants Goel relieved from services. Goel looks after West Asia affairs in the R&AW. Goel is a 1984-batch IPS officer of Punjab cadre and holds the rank of additional secretary in the R&AW. Asthana is a 94-batch IPS officer of Gujarat cadre.

The lodging of FIR against Rakesh Asthana came in a curious background of tussle between him and CBI Director Alok Verma. On September 21, the CBI informed the Central Vigilance Commission (CVC) that Rakesh Asthana was being investigated in six cases of corruption. The probe was being done by the CBI in all the six cases including those of accepting bribes from controversial Sandesara Group, and jailed journalist Upendra Rai.

In its letter to the CVC, the CBI had said that Rakesh Asthana had launched a malicious campaign against Alok Verma to malign his image. Previously, Rakesh Asthana had sent a complaint against Alok Verma to the CVC. The CBI termed that complaint as “frivolous”. 

Rakesh Asthana had responded to this CBI letter to the CVC by writing to the Narendra Modi government. Rakesh Asthana complained against Alok Verma saying that he sought to impede his functioning, interfere with investigation and malign his reputation.

Rakesh Asthana had previously probed the fodder scam of Bihar and Jharkhand, the Godhra train burning incident of Gujarat, the 2008 Ahmedabad bombing case and examined Asaram Bapu and his son Narayan Sai.