New Delhi: Feuding CBI Director Alok Verma and Special Director Rakesh Asthana have been divested of their powers and sent on leave, capping overnight discussions that led to the agency’s reins being handed to a joint director as an interim measure Wednesday.
Finance Minister Arun Jaitley told reporters the government’s decision to remove the CBI’s two top officers was based on the Central Vigilance Commission’s recommendations.
Joint Director M Nageswar Rao, a 1986-batch Odisha cadre IPS officer, was appointed to look after the duties and functions of the director with “immediate effect” as an “interim measure”.
A late night order Tuesday from the Appointments Committee of the Cabinet led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi sent Verma and Asthana on leave. The CVC recommended that Verma and Asthana be sent on leave and a Special Investigation Team (SIT) formed to probe the allegations against them.
An SIT will look into the charges and both officers will “sit out” during the probe, Jaitley told reporters after a Cabinet briefing, adding they have been sent on leave as an interim measure to restore the agency’s institutional integrity and credibility. The allegations by the top two officers of the investigation agency had led to a “bizarre and unfortunate” situation, he said.
In a lengthy statement issued later in the day, the government said Verma was not cooperating with the CVC. It defended its decision to send him on leave, saying an “extraordinary and unprecedented” situation had arisen due to “grave allegations of corruption” against senior functionaries of the agency.
Immediately after taking charge, Rao effected the transfers of officers known to be close to the two officers. He constituted a fresh team to probe an FIR against Asthana, registered by the agency October 15 on the basis of a statement of a Sathish Sana alleging that he paid a bribe through middlemen to get clean chit in the case probed by the CBI. The fresh team will have superintendent of police Satish Dagar and his senior DIG Tarun Gauba who will report to Joint Director V Murugesan, a CBI order said. A K Bassi, who was probing the case against Asthana, was dispatched to Port Blair in “public interest” with immediate effect.
His reporting officer Additional SP SS Gurm was transferred to Jabalpur while surpervisor DIG M K Sinha was moved to Nagpur, the order said. The crucial position of joint director (policy) held by Asthana’s bete noire A K Sharma has been given to DIG Amit Kumar as additional charge. Sharma has been transferred to the Multi-Disciplinary Monitoring Agency (MDMA), probing former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi’s assassination case. Asthana has levelled serious allegations against Sharma and Bassi, claiming they were sent to Gujarat by Verma to gather material against him.
The additional charge of the Special Unit responsible for phone intercepts, in-house vigilance and surveillance has been given to KG Chaurasia, DIG, while incumbent Anish Prasad has been posted as deputy director (admin). Joint Director A Sai Manohar, who was in Asthana’s team, has been transferred to Chandigarh. The rapid overnight changes in the CBI attracted criticism from the Congress and other Opposition parties. The Left parties, AAP and Trinamool Congress, also spoke out.Former officers of the agency on condition of anonymity said the situation is “unfortunate” and may affect cases related to the extradition of Vijay Mallya, Nirav Modi and Mehul Choksi.
SC to hear Verma plea October 26
New Delhi: CBI Director Alok Kumar Verma Wednesday told the Supreme Court that divesting him of his powers by the Centre amounts to interference in the independence of the agency whose probes against “high functionaries” may not take the line desirable to the government. The apex court agreed to hear Verma’s petition October 26 challenging the government’s decision. The petition was mentioned for urgent hearing before a bench of Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi and Justices S K Kaul and K M Joseph by Verma’s advocate Gopal Shankarnarayanan. He assailed the decision divesting the CBI chief of his powers and sending him on leave in view of the internal feud between Verma and Special Director Rakesh Asthana. He also challenged the decision of the government by which Joint Director M Nageswara Rao has been appointed.