Nageshwar Rao interim head of CBI; chief Alok Verma, deputy Asthana stripped of charge

Mangalore Today News Network

Delhi,Oct 24, 2018 : Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) director Alok Verma and his deputy Rakesh Asthana have been divested of all responsibilities amid an internal squabble between the two top officers of the probe agency.

 

The CBI headquarters was reportedly sealed, with neither staff nor outsiders being allowed inside as a team of officers was inside the building, sources said, according to PTI. However, it was later opened.

Joint director Nageshwar Rao has been asked to take over as the interim director of the premier investigating agency with immediate effect, the Prime Minister-led appointments committee of cabinet said in an order on Tuesday night.

Verma had earlier on Tuesday had divested Asthana of all cases he was overseeing and recommended that he be transferred out of the agency, hours after the Delhi high court refused to halt an investigation against the latter.

Asthana, the second senior-most officer in the federal agency who has been accused of taking bribes, had secured protection from arrest from the high court, which ordered a ‘status quo’ until the next hearing on October 29.

In a counter-allegation, Asthana in a complaint to the cabinet secretary on August 24 had alleged that Verma had received a bribe of Rs 2 crore from a Hyderabad-based real estate agent Sathish Sana whose role was being investigated by a team led by Asthana in a bribery case allegedly involving meat exporter Moin Qureshi.

He had also alleged that Verma had called him over phone in February to not call Sana for questioning.

In a surprising and unprecedented move on October 15, the CBI has booked Asthana and investigation officer of the case on the charges for receiving bribe from Sana through middlemen Manoj Prasad and Somesh Prasad.

The CBI has arrested Devender Kumar, the DySP and investigation officer, alleging that he had fabricated the statement of Sana purportedly claiming that a Rajya Sabha MP had met Verma on his pending case and assured him of relief and a clean chit.