Ahmed Patel questioned again; Congress asks why not quiz Asthana

Senior Rajya Sabha MP Ahmed Patel was on Thursday questioned by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) for the third time in a week in the bank fraud and money laundering case involving Sandesara brothers of Sterling Biotech. On the other side, leader of Congress in Lok Sabha, Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury asked why senior IPS officer Rakesh Asthana is not being quizzed despite his name cropping up.

Patel's questioning at his 23-Mother Theresa Crescent Road residence started at around 11 am. He was earlier questioned for around 17 hours on June 26 and 30.

He had denied any involvement in the case and accused the government of targeting the Opposition, which raised questions about the handling of Covid-19 pandemic and other issues.

Last year, the ED had questioned Patel's son Faisal and son-in-law Irfan Siddiqui in this case and recorded their statements based on a statement from Sandesara group employee Sunil Yadav who claimed he bore expenses of Rs 10 lakh for a party attended by Faisal, arranged his entry in a night club and once delivered Rs five lakh to his driver in Delhi. The Patels had denied the allegations.

The initials 'AP' in a diary seized from Sterling Biotech in 2011, which indicated payments to politicians and officials, is claimed to be that of Patel.

However, Chowdhury stepped up the attack on the government by tweeting, "Congress party's leader Ahmed Patel-ji has been grilled for three days by ED to unearth the nexus between Patel-ji and notorious Sandesara case. But Modi-ji's most trusted man Rakesh Asthana, IPS has been implicated as a recipient of bribe money which has been exposed in Sandersana diary, I am flagging the attention of Narendra Modi-ji."

Asthana, who is a Gujarat-cadre IPS officer, is considered close to Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah and it was alleged that the initials 'RA', which appeared in the Sandesara diary, was about him. The officer had denied this earlier and wrote to the then Cabinet Secretary in 2018 that 'RA' was not him.

The contents of the diary also became a contentious point in his appointment as Special Director in CBI with the matter reaching the Supreme Court, which gave its stamp on his selection. The then CBI Director Alok Verma had also flagged the case when his name had come up for appointment in the CBI.

During Verma's tenure as CBI Director, he opened an investigation into six cases against Asthana, including the one on Sandesara diary, leading to an intercine war within the agency. This led to Verma's ouster from the agency while Asthana, who was later cleared by the CBI, was moved out of agency and posted as head of Bureau of Civil Aviation Security.

The money laundering case involving the Sandesara brothers is the offshoot of a CBI case and chargesheet filed in court against them in connection with the Rs 14,500 crore bank loan fraud. Patel was earlier asked to appear before the investigators on June 9 but he responded saying he is above 65 years and it would be risky for him to step out due to Covid-19, following which the agency decided to go to his residence for questioning.