Assets of Sana Sathish Babu in centre of a CBI storm raided

Kakinada: Teams from the Central Bureau of Investigation conducted raids on the properties of Hyderabad-based businessman Sana Sathish Babu, a central figure in the ongoing row in investigating agency, in Kakinada and his relative’s houses at Peddapuram and Samalkot on Sunday.

It is said that the CBI team came from New Delhi along with two Telugu translators. It is learnt that the CBI also conducted searches at a pharmacy college which belongs to a cricket coach.

Mr Sathish Babu, who owns five firms and a night club, is alleged to have paid money to the CBI special director Rakesh Asthana to give him relief in the meat exporter Moin Qureshi tax evasion case.

In his turn, Mr Asthana had alleged that Sathish Babu had paid Mr Verma '2 crore to get a clean chit in the case, and instituted a probe. Both top officers have been sent on leave, and the Supreme Court has given two weeks to complete the probe against Mr Verma, which also includes other charges.

It was alleged that Mr Sathish Babu had mentioned that Telugu Desam MP C.M. Ramesh had put in a word to the CBI director after which he was not interrogated in the case.

Mr Sathish Babu’s guest house at Santhinagar in Kakinada, which was serched, is said to be maintained by Medaline Developers. It is learnt that the CBI team had seized some records.

Mr Sathish Babu worked as an assistant engineer in the electricity office at Kakinada for some time. He resigned later to develop his business, before moving to Hyderabad.