Satish Sana's ED-custody extended till August 9

New Delhi: A Delhi court on Thursday extended ED's custody of Hyderabad-based businessman Satish Sana Babu till August 9. Sana was arrested by ED officials last week in connection with a money-laundering probe against controversial meat-exporter Moin Qureshi.

After the arrest, the Enforcement Directorate was initially given five-day custody of Sana on Saturday, after which it sought nine more days of custody before Special judge Anuradha Shukla Bhardwaj.

The businessman was earlier called as a witness in the money-laundering case but with this development, he has turned an accused.

At the first custody hearing, the court had remarked, "It is an investigation that is going on for a long time... certain contradictions have appeared... that is why he has been arrested. ED has made the arrest on its own risk." The agency is probing the purported purchase of shares worth Rs 50 lakh of a Qureshi-linked company by Sana.

In fact, this case was picked up by the financial probe agency after the CBI had registered an FIR against Qureshi and its own former director AP Singh. As per the CBI's case, Qureshi was acting as a middleman to allegedly pull favours with several senior public office holders, including Singh. In fact, Sana had made a complaint to the CBI last year that threw the agency into an internal war, with former Director Alok Verma getting ready to probe Asthana based on Sana's statement and Asthana subsequently making serious allegations of corruption against Verma.