Today, On 19th July, The Delhi High Court dismissed the petitions filed by Sathish Sana and Pradeep Koneru challenging the Enforcement Directorate (ED) and Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) investigations in the Moin Qureshi bribery case.
New Delhi: The Delhi High Court rejected the pleas filed by businessmen Sathish Babu Sana and Pradeep Koneru seeking to quash a money laundering case that allegedly involved them and meat exporter Moin Qureshi.
A Division Bench comprising Justices Suresh Kumar Kait and Neena Bansal Krishna also dismissed Koneru’s plea challenging the CBI case.
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The Court found that both Sana and Koneru had, prima facie, committed the offence of money laundering as per Section 3 of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).
The Bench stated,
“Sathish Babu Sana and Pradeep Koneru have, thus, prima facie committed the offence of money laundering as defined in Section 3 of the PMLA, 2002 by directly or indirectly indulging in, knowingly assisting, knowingly being a party and actually involved in all or any process or activity connected with the proceeds of crime including its concealment, possession, acquisition or use and projecting or claiming it as untainted property,”
The Court noted that even though both accused listed as witnesses in the CBI case, they could still be accused in the money laundering case.
They also sought a declaration that Section 50(2) of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) is unconstitutional.
Section 50(2) grants the Enforcement Directorate (ED) the authority to summon any person whose presence is deemed necessary “whether to give evidence or to produce any records during the course of any investigation or proceeding” under the PMLA.
Koneru alleged to have paid money to Qureshi in exchange for favours for his two family members accused in the Emaar case, which investigated by the CBI’s Hyderabad unit. Former CBI Director AP Singh also allegedly involved in these exchanges.
In October 2018, Sana filed a written complaint with the CBI against Manoj Prasad and Somesh Prasad, accusing them of extorting money from him by promising help from a high-ranking CBI official.
Based on this complaint, the CBI registered a case against the Prasad brothers, the Investigating Officer Devender Kumar, and Rakesh Asthana, who was then the Special Director of the CBI.
This FIR led to a power struggle within the CBI. Allegations were made that Asthana agreed to a Rs. 5 crore deal to prevent further harassment of Sana by the CBI, while Asthana accused CBI Director Alok Verma of taking a Rs.2 crore bribe to protect him from arrest.
As a result, the government removed both Verma and Asthana from the CBI. Asthana later became the Commissioner of Delhi Police, while Verma resigned from service.
Senior Advocate Siddharth Aggarwal, along with advocates Stuti Gujral, Shaurya Singh, Saikh Bakhtiyar, Rudrali Patil, and Akshat Gupta, represented Sathish Sana.
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Senior Advocates Mukul Rohtagi and Jayant Bhushan, with advocates Devanshi Singh, Anirudha Deshmukh, Mahesh Agarwal, Rishi Agrawala, Ankit Banati, Abhay Agnihotri, and Tarini Khurana, represented Pradeep Koneru.
The ED represented by Special Counsel Zoheb Hossain, along with advocates Vivek Gurnani, Kartik Sabharwal, Baibhav, and Manisha Dubey.
Additional Solicitor General Chetan Sharma, along with advocates Ripu Daman Bhardwaj, Amit Gupta, and Vikramaditya, appeared for the CBI.
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