What is the CBI Controversy?

Amid a dramatic controversy rocking the country in the CBI Vs CBI case, the Supreme Court of India today was hearing a petition filed by the 'ousted' CBI chief Alok Verma challenging the government's decision to send him on 'leave'.

The Supreme Court assured that it will examine the matter and ordered an inquiry into the entire episode under the supervision of a retired Supreme Court judge. The bench headed by Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi held that at the present stage, what is necessary is an inquiry to find out whether there is a prima facie case.

The Supreme Court said: 

• The incumbent CBI director M. Nageshwar Rao to remain CBI 'interim' chief, but will not take policy decisions.
• Also, all decisions taken by Nageshwar Rao, after he assumed the office of 'interim' director on 23 October, have to be submitted to the Supreme Court on 12 November.
• Further, the apex court directed the Central Vigilance Commission to complete the inquiry against Verma in two weeks under the supervision of former Supreme Court judge A.K Patnaik, who will ensure the timely conclusion of the inquiry.

What is the CBI Controversy?

It is a case of rivalry between the CBI Director Alok Verma who was appointed in 2017 and Rakesh Asthana who was appointed as Special Director of CBI in 2017. The rivalry began the day, Asthana's appointment as special director was cleared by the government.

As stated before Verma took charge of the CBI on February 1, 2017. Till then, Asthana was the acting CBI director.

It is said that when Verma took charge, Asthana started flexing his muscles and took decisions without keeping the director in the loop.

When his appointment as special director came up for approval, Alok Verma had opposed the move citing his alleged connection with the Sterling Biotech bribery case.

 What started the tussle?

On October 4th, Hyderabad-based businessman Satish Babu Sana - one of the suspects in the Moin Qureshi corruption case - alleged that he paid a hefty sum to CBI officers to get the agency off his back. Following this complaint, the CBI registered a case against Asthana as accused number one and a deputy superintendent of police-rank CBI officer, Devender Kumar.

Meanwhile, Asthana wrote a letter to the vigilance commission listing 10 cases where Verma allegedly tried to influence the investigation. He alleged that Satish Babu Sana paid Verma Rs. 2 crore to save himself in the case of meat-exporter Moin Qureshi who is being probed by the CBI on charges of tax evasion, money laundering, etc. Asthana also claimed that he wanted to arrest Sana but Verma scuttled the move.

Asthana further claimed when he and his team wanted to arrest Sana in February, Verma called him and told him not to do so. Asthana has also accused Verma of taking him off probes into the IRCTC case against Lalu Prasad Yadav and the INX Media case involving former finance minister P. Chidambaram.

So, why did Asthana get booked? 

A few days ago, CBI filed an FIR against Asthana and has now arrested Devendera Kumar, a deputy superintendent of police in the agency. Interestingly, the FIR was lodged on a complaint by Satish Babu Sana accusing Asthana of extorting money from him to shield him in the Qureshi case.

In his complaint, Sana claims to have paid Rs 3 crore to Asthana through a Dubai-based middleman Manoj Prasad and his brother, Somesh Prasad, He claims that Manoj showed him a WhatsApp conversation with Asthana and he saw Asthana's profile picture with the number which reassured him of Manoj's links with Asthana. Sana alleged that Manoj also claimed that Asthana had stayed at his home in London last year. He alleged that Somesh also dropped the name of a senior RAW officer Samant Kumar Goel. The FIR has named Goel too as part of the extortion gang.

Why is the BJP being criticized? 

The Modi government did not sack the CBI Director from the post, but sent him on leave and appointed M. Nageshwara Rao as interim director of the CBI. But, according to the clauses in CBI Director's appointment for a tenure of 2 years, the removal of the Director of the CBI can only happen on grounds of misconduct or misbehavior and has to be approved by the Cabinet Committee that has appointed him.

So, in Alok Verma's case, the Modi Government sent him on leave by violating the clauses. Going by the appointment clause of the CBI director, he is safe. However, the decision will be taken by the Supreme Court only after the inquiry by the CVC into the case.


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