POWER TUSSLE GRIPS TOP INVESTIGATION AGENCY
CBI special director Rakesh Asthana has been booked for allegedly accepting bribe to settle a case of meat exporter Moin Qureshi, who is facing multiple cases of money laundering and corruption Asthana has been accused of accepting a bribe worth ~2 crore from a businessman under probe in the Qureshi case
CBI has alleged that bribes were taken at least five times between December 2017 and October 2018 This is the latest episode of the war at the top in the CBI The fight between CBI director Alok Verma and Asthana started in 2017 when Verma was said to be trying to stall Asthana’s promotion to the post of special director, alleging his involvement the Sterling Biotech case Matters came to a head when Asthana complained to the cabinet secretary on August 24 this year that Verma was interfering in probes, following which the matter was referred to the Central Vigilance Commission, which monitors the investigation agency’s probes In the letter to cabinet secretary, Asthana had also given a list of 10 instances of alleged corruption by Verma, including accepting bribe from an accused in Qureshi case The complaint is currently being probed by the Central Vigilance Commission
On October 15, Asthana again approached the CVC, accusing Verma and CBI joint director Arun Kumar Sharma of trying to falsely implicate him in the Sterling Biotech case
The letter also alleges that an officer has been posted in the AC-III branch to specifically target Asthana. It says that the officer is “notorious for breaking rules and intentional insubordination”