CBI number 1 gets his number 2 booked on charges of ‘bribery’
NEW DELHI: In an unprecedented move, the CBI has booked its second in command, Rakesh Asthana, on the allegations of receiving bribe from an accused probed by him in a case linked to meat exporter
Moin Qureshi — a charge levelled by the officer on CBI Director Alok Verma in his complaint to the Cabinet Secretary two months ago.
The CBI registered the case
— FIR RC 13(A) of 2018 — against CBI Special Director Asthana on October 15 on the basis of a complaint from Satish Sana, facing probe in the 2017 case allegedly involving meat exporter Moin Qureshi, alleging the officer had allegedly helped him to get a clean chit.
The CBI has also arrested Manoj Prasad, believed to be a middleman, when he returned from Dubai on October 16. The agency has, however, maintained a silence on the issue. It is alleged by Sana that Prasad and his brother Somesh had taken money to arrange clean chit to him.
Gujarat-cadre IPS officer Asthana, who is heading the Special Investigating Team handling crucial cases such as Agustawestland chopper scam and loan fraud by business tycoon Vijay Mallya. The team is also probing the Moin Qureshi case. Asthana in an exhaustive letter to the Cabinet Secretary on August 24 had given a list of 10 instances of alleged corruption by Verma in which it was alleged that Sana paid the CBI chief Rs 2 crore to get clean chit in the case, government sources said. This complaint was referred to the Central Vigilance Commission which is probing the matter, they said.
NEW DELHI: The CBI claims to have analysed nine phone calls immediately after middleman Manoj Prasad was held in the alleged bribery case against its Special Director Rakesh Asthana to allege that there was panic after the middleman’s brother got “wind” of the arrest, officials said Sunday.
The investigative agency has registered a case against Asthana on the basis of claims made by a businessman Sathish Sana, probed by him in a separate case, that he was asked to pay a bribe of Rs 5 crore by Manoj Prasad, an investment banker based in Dubai to get relief from repeated summons and a clean chit in the case, they said.
Surprisingly, Asthana who is second in command in the agency had intimated the Cabinet Secretary nearly two months back that Sana had allegedly paid a bribe of Rs 2 crore to Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) Chief Alok Verma to get relief in the case.
The agency however claimed on Sunday that Sana had appeared before the Magistrate where he had stated that he made payments between December, 2017 and October, 2018 to a middleman who had cited his purported connection with Asthana to arrange relief for him.
On the basis of his claims, the agency arrested Manoj Prasad on October 16 when he was returning from Dubai to allegedly collect installment of the agreed bribe.
No where in the statement which is now part of the FIR, made public nearly five days after registration, Sana had mentioned any direct meeting, interaction, or payment of bribe to Asthana.
According to the call data analysis done by the CBI, the phone calls were allegedly exchanged between Asthana and a senior officer of another intelligence who wanted to confirm the details, the middleman and the senior officer, wife of middleman with the senior officer and others, an officer claimed.
The sources claimed that call data records show that four calls were exchanged between Asthana and the senior officer on October 17, 2018, a day after the arrest. They claimed that Somesh Prasad, brother of middleman Manoj Prasad, “somehow” got news of the latter’s arrest on October 16, 2018 and immediately called his contact, the senior officer of the intelligence agency on the same day. A call was then made by the officer to Somesh within a minute, they claimed.
Next day, the intelligence agency officer allegedly called Asthana to purportedly know the situation.
Three more calls were exchanged between the two, the agency claimed.