CBI officer drags in mantri, NSA into feud

Infighting within agency gets murkier ■ Nothing shocks us, says CJI- headed bench

sent on leave along with his boss.

K. V. Chowdhury did not respond to queries when his reaction was sought while Mr Doval, the national security adviser, was not immediately available for comments. An official in the minister’s office said he was not aware of the matter.

Mr Sinha, who was probing the FIR against Mr Asthana, the CBI’s number 2, and important cases like the PNB scam involving Nirav Modi, made a litany of sensational allegations in his petition before the Supreme Court that sought urgent hearing for quashing his transfer to Nagpur.

Advocate Sunil Fernandes, appearing for Mr Sinha, informed a three- judge bench headed by Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi that his client has “got some shocking revelations” in his petition and sought urgent listing and hearing Tuesday along with the plea of CBI director Alok Verma.

“Nothing shocks us,” the bench, also comprising Justices S. K. Kaul and K. M. Joseph, shot back, as it ruled out urgent hearing and asked Mr Fernandes to be present in the court when it will hear Mr Verma’s plea challenging the government’s decision to divest him of duties and sending him on leave. Mr Sinha claimed that as a result of his transfer to Nagpur, he has been taken out of the probe team investigating the FIR against Asthana.

“The transfer is arbitrary, motivated and malafide, and was made solely with the purpose and intent to victimise the

officer as the investigation revealed cogent evidence against certain powerful persons,” he alleged.

In his 34- page petition, Mr Sinha, a 2000 batch IPS officer from Andhra Pradesh cadre, alleged that the CBI director briefed Mr Doval on October 17 about registration of a case against Mr Asthana. “Subsequently on the same night, it was informed that the NSA has informed Rakesh Asthana about registration of the FIR. It was informed that Rakesh Asthana reportedly made a request to the NSA that he should not be arrested,” the petition said.

Mr Sinha, while supporting the affidavit of deputy superintendent of police A. K. Bassi, who has also been transferred to Andaman and Nicobar Islands, claimed Bassi favoured immediate search of public servants involved in the bribery case ( relating to Asthana) but the “Director CBI did not give immediate permission and reverted that the NSA has not permitted the same.”

The CBI booked Asthana on allegations of receiving bribe from an accused Manoj Prasad probed by him in a case linked to meat exporter Moin Qureshi.