CBI files FIR against its own special director
Booked on charges he had levelled against agency chief
The ongoing tussle between CBI director Alok Verma and special director Rakesh Asthana has escalated further with the agency filing a corruption case against its second- in- command.
According to the FIR, Mr Asthana is alleged to have received kickbacks, amounting to ` 2 crore, from Kanpur- based meat exporter Moin Qureshi to settle a money laundering case against him. Interestingly, Mr Asthana had earlier levelled similar charges against the CBI director. An FIR in the case was filed on October 15 on the basis of a complaint from Satish Sana. Mr Asthana, a 1984- batch IPS officer from Gujaratcadre, is heading the special investigating team handling crucial cases such as AgustaWestland copter scam and Vijay Mallya case.
Mr Asthana, in an exhaustive letter to the Cabinet secretary on August 24, had given a list of 10 instances of the alleged corruption by Mr Verma in which it was alleged that Sana paid the CBI chief ` 2 crore to get a clean chit in the case, sources said.
The ongoing tussle between CBI director Alok Verma and special director Rakesh Asthana has escalated further, with the Central investigating agency filing a corruption case against its second- in- command.
Mr Asthana, who is named as the prime accused in an FIR that was filed on October 15, is alleged to have received kickbacks, amounting to ` 2 crore, from Kanpurbased meat exporter Moin Qureshi to settle a money laundering case against him.
The CBI registered the case — FIR RC 13( A) of 2018 — against Mr 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.
Mr Asthana, a 1984- batch IPS officer from Gujaratcadre, is also the frontrunner for the post of CBI director. He is heading the special investigating team handling crucial cases such as AgustaWestland copter scam and loan fraud by business tycoon Vijay Mallya. The team is also probing the Moin Qureshi case.
The FIR also mentions Samant Kumar Goel, a special director at Research and Analysis Wing ( RAW) as aiding the illegal deal between Mr Asthana and Mr Qureshi.
Mr Asthana, it is alleged, received bribes through a middleman named Manoj Prasad, who was arrested by the CBI’s anti- corruption unit on October 16, a day after the FIR was filed. It is alleged by Mr Sana that Mr Prasad and his brother Somesh had taken money to arrange chit to him.
Mr Sana’s statement was recorded earlier this month in which he named investigating officer Devinder Singh and two individuals — Someshwar Prasad and Manoj Prasad — believed to be middlemen. In his statement, Mr Sana claimed that he was asked to pay ` 5 crore to settle his case pertaining to his links with Mr Qureshi, who is already being probed by the Central agencies.
According to the FIR, the bribe was demanded through a conduit who claimed that the money was meant for the senior CBI officer. He also showed his Whatsapp exchange with Mr Asthana to prove his claim.
In his complaint, Mr Sana said that he saw the DP of the said officer and confirmed it to be Mr Asthana following an Internet search. The FIR said that the first instalment of ` 1.95 crore was made in December 2017 in the parking lot of Press Club of India to a conduit, Sunil Mittal. clean