Sana Satish Babu's arrest a vindication of stand taken by Rakesh Asthana

A city court on Saturday sent Hyderabad-based businessman Sana Satish Babu to five-day custody of the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in a money laundering case filed against meat exporter Moin Qureshi.

Babu's arrest by the ED on Friday is a vindication of the stand taken by the former CBI Special Director Rakesh Asthana, who had taken on his boss in the agency -- Alok Verma.

The case was at the centre of the tug of war between the CBI's two top officers last year.

Asthana was heading the CBI's special team probing some complaints against Qureshi. He had pushed for Sana Satish Babu's arrest and custodial interrogation along with a few others in this case.

The investigating team alleged that Babu had paid off the then CBI Director Alok Verma and some other officials to stay out of trouble. However, Babu tried to mislead the investigation and filed a bribery case of Rs 2 crore against Asthana.

Sources reveal that Asthana had complained to Cabinet Secretary Pradeep Sinha two months before the FIR was filed against him that Verma, then CBI Director, had called him in February to call off the questioning of Babu.

Both Verma and Asthana denied the charges against them. The growing tussle between the two high ranking officials had forced the Central government to step in and inquire.

Verma was eventually sacked from the CBI whereas Asthana is now serving as the chief of the Bureau of Civil Aviation Security.