Moin Qureshi PMLA case: Sana Satish Babu, Srinivasa Gandhi met in Dubai
Hyderabad: Hyderabad-based businessman Sana Satish Babu and Srinivasa Gandhi, former assistant director of the Enforcement Directorate, Bollineni, are reported to have met a few times during their trips abroad.
Law enforcement agencies are said to know of one such meeting in Dubai where Satish Babu and Gandhi reportedly stayed in the same hotel. Officials do not believe it could be a coincidence. They say that the agenda of the overseas meetings is not known. While Satish Babu is being questioned by the ED in New Delhi in connection with the alleged money laundering case involving controversial meat exporter Moin Qureshi, Gandhi is being probed by both the CBI and ED officials in Hyderabad.
Satish met netas, babus in UK
With new leads emerging of their suspected nexus, though in bits and pieces, the agencies are digging out more to get a clear picture of the friendship Satish Babu had with different bureaucrats and officials including Gandhi.
Sources associated with the probe told Deccan Chronicle that the Satish Babu-Gandhi association goes back a long way. They are believed to have been introduced by a Telugu Desam leader who is now in the BJP.
While it is common knowledge that Satish Babu used to entertain many politicians and bureaucrats, and is also suspected of being a benami (proxy) for many of them, the authorities stumbled upon information that he met politicians and bureaucrats during his overseas trips. During the probe, the agencies have learnt that Satish Babu and Gandhi once met at a hotel in Dubai. “While we cannot say for sure what was the agenda of the meetings, it does establish that there were close ties between them, which is essential for the probe,” sources said, adding that perhaps they felt that regular meetings within the country was risky.
Besides his reported meeting with Gandhi in Dubai, the agencies suspect that Satish Babu had similar meetings with politicians and bureaucrats which could have taken place in the UK.
“The probe is still in the initial stages and it will take some time before more is known about these meetings abroad,” sources said. Satish Babu is also reported to have had a few meetings with the top associates of Moin Qureshi abroad.
The investigators suspect that till Mr Gandhi was working in the ED, he was taking instructions from Satish Babu, with regard to certain cases, a suspicion the ED is also trying to probe. Gandhi had probed the `300 crore tax evasion of the Sujana group, the alleged illegal investments of Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy.
