After arrest, ex-CBI chief AP Singh says 'messages with Qureshi personal, innocuous'

AP Singh, the first former CBI chief booked by the agency, on Tuesday claimed that the phone messages exchanged with controversial meat exporter Moin Qureshi that have come under scanner are “mostly personal” and “innocuous” in nature.

The CBI had named Singh along with Qureshi and others in an FIR registered last week for allegedly showing favour to the meat exporter after receiving a complaint from the Enforcement Directorate.

The 1974-batch IPS officer, who retired as CBI Director on November 30, 2012, said that he would comment exhaustively on the agency’s action after consulting his lawyer but added that the messages had been in public domain “for over three years”.

“Income Tax and Enforcement Director have not added anything further. None of the purported messages sent through BlackBerry Messenger (BBM) pertain to the CBI investigations.  They are mostly personal and innocuous in nature as between friends,” he said.

Enforcement Directorate chief Karnal Singh had alleged that in the course of investigation in a Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA) case against AMQ Group of companies owned by Qureshi, it transpired that the businessman was acting as a middleman for some public servants.