Infighting out in open, CBI says its No 2 under scanner
THE CBI TERMED ASTHANA’S COMPLAINT AS AN ATTEMPT TO INTIMIDATE THOSE CBI OFFICERS PROBING HIM.
NEWDELHI: The country’s top federal investigation agency, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Friday took the unprecedented measure of issuing a statement saying it is probing the role of its own special director Rakesh Asthana, the senior-most officer after the chief Alok Verma, “in at least half a dozen cases”. The agency also accused Asthana of making frivolous and baseless complaints against his boss to the government.
The statement, which finally acknowledges one of New Delhi’s worst kept secrets – the poor relationship between Verma and the man he thought had been foisted on him to create a parallel power centre in the agency, Asthana, and the way this is affecting investigations – came following a complaint by Asthana to cabinet secretary Pradeep Kumar Sinha alleging that Verma was interfering in investigations.
It brings to the fore an ugly fight in the agency that, experts say, is threatening to tarnish its credibility. CBI has not given any detail of the cases in which it is investigating Asthana, nor has it clarified whether a prior sanction was sought to probe Asthana in these cases as mandated by law. Meanwhile, the cabinet secretary has referred the complaint made by Asthana to the Central Vigilance Commission (CVC), a senior government functionary confirmed on condition of anonymity. A person familiar with the developments said the CVC would take up the matter on Monday.
The CBI termed Asthana’s complaint as an attempt to intimidate those CBI officers probing him. “It is stated that CVC has sought certain case files from CBI on the basis of a complaint filed by the Special Director, CBI (Asthana). In its response to the CVC letter, the chief vigilance officer of CBI has pointed out that the complaint is an attempt by the complainant to intimidate the officers of CBI who are investigating his role in at least half a dozen cases,” the CBI statement said. Verma and Asthana were not available for comment.
The agency in its statement said it is unfortunate that “baseless and frivolous allegations” were being made publically “without proper verification of facts to malign the image of the Director CBI and intimidate the officials of the organisation”.
Asthana is learnt to have made a serious charge in his complaint to the cabinet secretary in September that the director tried to delay the investigation of the Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation case. Former railway minister Lalu Prasad Yadav is one of the accused in the case.
Defending the director against Asthana’s charge, CBI said it was absolutely false and pointed out that a charge sheet has been filed in the case and that this could not have happened without the explicit approval of director Verma.
The senior government functionary mentioned in the first instance said even the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) is dismayed at the fight between Asthana and Verma and that a message has been conveyed to both of them to back off.
“But it looks that both of them have reached at a point of no return,” this person added.
Interestingly, the tussle between Asthana and Verma comes at a time when the agency is slowly recovering from allegations of corruption against two of its former directors - AP Singh (2010-12) and Ranjit Singh (2012-14). The CBI itself is probing both cases.