Bengaluru: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) went knocking on the doors of a man who claimed to have purchased a rare breed of dog for a whopping Rs 50 crore. ED sleuths interrogated S Satish at his Bengaluru residence till late on Thursday on how he actually transferred the amount to the seller.
According to the ED, Satish’s bank transactions do not show a major transfer of withdrawal. Officials suspect that he may have made payment through a hawala channel, which is illegal.
Satish claims that he spent ‘500 million rupees’ for the dog as he likes to own rare breeds and introduce them to India. The canine in question here is barely a year old and named Cadabomb Okami. It is supposedly a cross between an actual wolf and a Caucasian Shepherd.
It is already 70 cm in height and weighs over 70 kg. It consumes three kg of raw meat daily. Satish claims to be the president of the Indian Dog Breeders Association. According to the New York Post, he stopped breeding dogs nearly a decade back and now concentrates on shows that fetch him anything between US$ 2,800 for 30 minutes and US$ 11,700 for five hours.
Satish claims that people love to see his dogs and are ready to pay. He also owns a Chow Chow – that resembles a walking teddy bear. He claims to have purchased it for US$ 3.25 million last year. The question that is being asked by some is why he would pay over Rs 27 crore for a breed that is available in India for between Rs 2-5 lakh.
The ED sleuths are not too impressed with his claims though. They suspect that he may be simply ‘bragging’ to get more people to watch his shows.
“We have searched his premises and seized documents that we are going through. If he actually paid Rs 50 crore, there has to be a money trail. If he used a hawala channel, then he is likely to be prosecuted. If he did not, then this is just a Caucasian Shepherd Dog that costs anything between Rs 50,000 to Rs 2,00,000 in India. Investigations are on,” an ED official said.
Satish, however, told the media that he and his dogs are more popular than movie stars and he spends money on the animals as people are always ready to pay to watch them.
