CBI files cases against ex-chief Singh, Qureshi

Former IPS officer A P Singh on Monday became the second retired CBI director to face a probe by the agency on charges of illegally favouring controversial meat exporter Moin Qureshi.

Qureshi has also been booked in the case. Singh entered the hall of shame almost a month after the Supreme Court directed the probe agency to investigate his successor Ranjit Sinha for his controversial meetings with Qureshi.

The fresh case against Qureshi came as a follow up to the probe by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) against him on charges of money laundering.

The ED had referred to the CBI to probe the corruption angle after it emerged that Qureshi had links with public servants, including Singh with whom he shared “coded messages” on a Blackberry phone.

Searches were carried out in four cities — New Delhi, Ghaziabad, Chennai and Hyderabad — including at the premises of Singh, Qureshi and businessman Pradeep Koneru, whose name figured in the disproportionate assets case against YSR Congress chief Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy.

Officials said the CBI has based its FIR on the complaint forwarded by ED Director Karnal Singh. The complaint said while the ED was investigating a Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA) case against AMQ Group owned by Qureshi, it learnt that the meat exporter was acting as a middleman for some public servants.

The ED also decoded Blackberry chat messages exchanged between Singh and Qureshi to claim that cognisable offences were committed by the duo.