ED charges meat exporter with extortion

The ED made the allegations in a charge sheet filed against Qureshi in a special court here on Monday. He is at present in jail. 

“Moin Qureshi has extorted Rs 5.75 crore from a businessman under the promise of providing help in his family case with the CBI through the then director. One more businessman had to pay Rs 1.75 crore to Qureshi in lieu of the promise to help in a CBI case,” the ED said in a statement making an apparent reference to former Central Bureau of Investigation Chief A P Singh. 

Singh has also been booked by the agency under various criminal provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), apart from Qureshi and others. The agency said he (Qureshi) had been “regularly sending gifts to various government servants holding important and sensitive positions who obtained the illegal gratification or pecuniary advantage either themselves or through their kith and kin”. 

It said, “BBM (BlackBerry Messenger) messages exchanged between Qureshi and the accused persons involved in other criminal cases and also the persons who wanted to seek undue favours from the other investigating agencies of the government by getting them off the hook.” 

The ED said, “In this way, he also obtained huge amounts of money for providing influence.”