Satish Babu Sana met BJP leaders to gain entry into BCCI

Hyderabad: The Hyderabad-based businessman Satish Babu Sana, arrested by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) recently in connection with a money laundering case involving controversial meat exporter Moin Qureshi, was looking to do a Lalit Modi.

But for his arrest, Satish Babu would have been on board the Board of Cricket Control in India (BCCI). Having started as a small time AP State Electricity board employee in Andhra Pradesh, Satish Babu used all his contacts to land himself a key job in BCCI.

Satish Babu was arrested by the ED on July 26 and granted bail by a special CBI court in New Delhi four days ago. The ED is probing the purported purchase of shares worth Rs 50 lakh of a company linked to Moin Qureshi by Satish Babu.

Sources associated with the investigation told Deccan Chronicle that for the past couple of years, Satish Babu had been in regular touch with some top names in Indian cricket and key BJP leaders through whom he was eyeing a key post in the BCCI.

“Sana threw lavish parties which cricketers, politicos from different parties, bureaucrats and those from the film industry besides top industrialists used to attend. He knew being in the BCCI would get him immense clout and all the other benefits that would come with that. He began discussing the matter with some cricketers and BJP leaders who assured him of help,” they said.

A few big names in Indian cricket even went to the extent of proposing his name for certain posts in the BCCI. It was in the pipeline but before anything could materialise he was arrested by the ED.

Besides cricketers, he also met a few key BJP leaders who had immense clout in the BCCI and its affairs. “It was only a matter of time before he got into the BCCI. There has been lot of oral correspondence between the BCCI and some of the top names in the country,” sources said adding that one of his close pals in Hyderabad, who is often seen hobnobbing with the top cricketers and sportspersons, is believed to have helped him out with contacts in the cricketing field.

Hailing from Kakinada, Satush Babu used to be a small-time AP State Electricity Board Employee who quit his government job and floated several companies. His association with the leaders of the BJP, Congress, TD and the YSR Congress is well known. His close association with top bureaucrats in New Delhi was often a talking point in political circles. It was on Satish Babu’s statement that triggered a ‘war’ within the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) after he charged the then CBI No. 2 Rakesh Asthana of accepting a bribe of Rs 1 crore.

But the cricketing world was always that had interested Satish Babu. He was previously associated with the East Godavari District Cricket Association as its president and was involved in the affairs of the Andhra Cricket Association.