Modi’s blueeyed boy
Rakesh Asthana, Narendra Modi’s trusted super cop, rose quickly in the ranks after he began to serve the Hindutva project in Gujarat and elsewhere.
RAKESH ASTHANA PERHAPS TOPS THE LIST of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s blue-eyed boys in the police force. As is well known now, the Bharatiya Janata Party-led (BJP) National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government has placed all its men in almost every significant organisation and institution. Asthana, a Gujarat cadre Indian Police Service (IPS) officer, was made second-in-command at the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) soon after Modi assumed office at the Centre.
Asthana’s glaring connection to Modi and BJP president Amit Shah from his days with the Gujarat police will obviously not bode well for them, particularly with the general election looming large. It will be interesting to see what he reveals. Or will he ride out the storm, and like his Gujarat colleagues be put back into the system with a few warnings.
The only difference between Asthana and the other Gujarat officers is that he has reached a high official position and it will be hard for him to manoeuvre the situation given the misdeeds he has been accused of. But stranger things have happened in Gujarat and at the Centre, both led by Modi and his team.
Asthana has been forced to go on leave following bribery charges amounting to Rs.3 crore and his public spat with CBI Director Alok Verma. Other allegations against him include misuse of power to accept favours from corporate houses and the display of excessive ambition and flamboyance.
The Enforcement Directorate (E.D.) is examining how Asthana paid for his daughter’s opulent wedding held at the Lakshmi Vilas Palace in Vadodara in 2016. The extravagance was much beyond the capacity of a salaried officer, said a Vadodara businessman. Asthana has maintained, and it is corroborated by hoteliers, that the services were complimentary.
Until the mid 90s, Asthana moved up the ranks through the usual route of promotions. In fact, he was known to be a conscientious and “upright” officer, said R.B. Sreekumar, a former Inspector General of Police in Gujarat, who was also Asthana’s superior. A 1984 batch officer, Asthana started his career as a subdivisional police officer in Patlad town in Anand district. He was Superintendent of Police (S.P.) in Jamnagar and Patan, Deputy Commissioner of Police in Ahmedabad and, after being on a deputation, Inspector General of Police in Vadodara, Commissioner of Police in Surat, and Commissioner of Police in Vadodara.
TURNING POINT IN CAREER
A deputation to the CBI in 1995 as S.P. in Dhanbad, Bihar, appears to have been a turning point in his career. Asthana latched on to an assignment to investigate the then Bihar Chief Minister Lalu Prasad who was charged in the Rs.950-crore fodder scam. Lalu Prasad was convicted largely owing to Asthana’s relentless pursuit of the case, Sreekumar said. His success in slamming Lalu Prasad and not being cowed down by his intimidation caught the attention of L.K. Advani, who was then the BJP president. Advani would later reward him for nailing the BJP’S No. 1 enemy.
After the fodder scam investigation, Asthana was repatriated to Gujarat, just before the 2002 pogrom. The