The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has changed the Investigating Officer (IO) probing the case involving controversial businessman Moin Qureshi, The Indian Express reported.
The move was made even as the Supreme Court is monitoring a probe involving the central agency’s top two officials who have been sent on leave pending investigation. CBI Director Alok Verma and Special Director Rakesh Asthana have levelled serious allegations against each other, including that of corruption and embezzlement.
Here is a quick reckoner of what has transpired so far.
According to The Indian Express, the CBI SP Satish Dagar was on Sunday, 28 October, entrusted with the Qureshi case. He will replace S Kiran who holds the same rank.
Dagar had on Friday, 26 October, issued summons to Sathish Sana, the Hyderabad-based businessman whose statement before a Magistrate under Section 164 of CrPC led to the FIR against Asthana.
Why now?
The move comes after the top court, while hearing Verma’s plea against the Centre’s order to send him on leave, restrained interim CBI chief M Nageshwar Rao from taking any “policy decision(s) or any major decision(s)”. SC had directed that Rao “will only perform the routine tasks that are essential to keep the CBI functional.”
Who is Satish Dagar?
Dagar, a superintendent of police in the CBI’s Anti-Corruption III unit, was among the several officers who were transferred during a midnight move by the Centre on 23 October. Both Asthana and Verma were sent on leave in the same government order.
Dagar had replaced AK Bassi, who was posted to Port Blair “with immediate effect”, The Indian Express report said.
The SP was also assigned the bribery case against Asthana after the special director was sent on leave.
He had earlier investigated the case against Dera Sacha Sauda chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim.
The Qureshi Case
It was this case that led to the Central Vigilance Commission (CVC) order last week against CBI Director Alok Verma. The CVC, in its correspondence with Verma, had asked for the case files pertaining to Moin Qureshi.
The case against Qureshi began after an Income Tax Department raid in February 2014. The meat exporters was accused of taking money to “fix” CBI cases, according to The Indian Express.
Who is Moin Qureshi?
Moin Akhtar Qureshi is a millionaire meat exporter from Kanpur who faces multiple investigations, ranging from tax evasion to money laundering, The Times of India reported.
According to the report, Qureshi was also behind the downfall of two CBI chiefs, AP Singh and Ranjit Sinha. He has been accused of spending large sums through hawala transactions to “woo government officials.”
Qureshi, who started a small slaughterhouse in Uttar Pradesh’s Rampur in 1993, went on to become the country’s largest meat exporter, the report said. He has established more than 25 companies in the last 25 years.
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