Infighting out in open, CBI says its No 2 under scanner

NEWDELHI: The country’s top federal investigation agency, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Friday took the unprecedented measure of issuing a statement saying it is probing the role of its own special director Rakesh Asthana, the senior-most officer after the chief Alok Verma, “in at least half a dozen cases”. The agency also accused Asthana of making frivolous and baseless complaints against his boss to the government.

The statement, which finally acknowledges one of New Delhi’s worst kept secrets – the poor relationship between Verma and the man he thought had been foisted on him to create a parallel power centre in the agency, Asthana, and the way this is affecting investigations – came following a complaint by Asthana to cabinet secretary Pradeep Kumar Sinha alleging that Verma was interfering in investigations.

It brings to the fore an ugly fight in the agency that, experts say, is threatening to tarnish its credibility.

CBI has not given any detail of the cases in which it is investigating Asthana, nor has it clarified whether a prior sanction was sought to probe Asthana in these cases as mandated by law.

Meanwhile, the cabinet secretary has referred the complaint made by Asthana to the Central Vigilance Commission (CVC), a senior government functionary confirmed on condition of ano- nymity. A person familiar with the developments said the CVC would take up the matter on Monday.

The CBI termed Asthana’s complaint as an attempt to intimidate those CBI officers probing him.

“It is stated that CVC has sought certain case files from CBI on the basis of a complaint filed by the Special Director, CBI (Asthana). In its response to the CVC letter, the chief vigilance officer of CBI has pointed out that the complaint is an attempt by the complainant to intimidate the officers of CBI who are investigating his role in at least half a dozen cases,” the CBI statement said.

Verma and Asthana were not available for comment.