Asthana divested of all work, court bars arrest
NEW DELHI: Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) director Alok Verma on Tuesday divested special director Rakesh Asthana of all cases he is 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 that has turned out to be one of the most controversial chapters in the agency’s history, complete with a raid on its own headquarters and the arrest of a deputy superintendent of police (DSP).
Asthana, the second seniormost officer in the federal agency who has been accused of taking bribes, secured protection from arrest from the high court, which ordered a ‘status quo’ until the next hearing on October 29.
According to a CBI official who asked not to be named, Asthana will no longer be in charge of the Special Investigation Team (SIT) handling sensitive investigations like the Agustawestland bribery case, the Vijay Mallya loan default case and the IRCTC landfor-contract case against Bihar politician Lalu Prasad.
The allegations against Asthana are part of an unprecedented feud within the agency between him and Verma, the agency’s top two officers. Asthana, the agency has alleged, took bribes to help a suspect, while Devender Kumar, the DSP, conspired with him to fabricate evidence in order to implicate the CBI director.
The agency told high court justice Najmi Waziri that more sections related to forgery and extortion were being added in the case against the special director and the DSP.