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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A man walks past CBI headquarters in New Delhi

With the internal tussle in the CBI between director Alok Kumar Verma and his deputy Rakesh Asthana refusing to wane, the Central government stepped in and amid a midnight drama sent both the warring officers on leave. The government also appointed M Nageshwar Rao as an interim acting director of the investigating agency.

Commenting on the unprecedented development, Home Minister Rajnath Singh said that the CBI director was not cooperating with the Central Vigilance Commission (CVC). He said that Verma was not making available records and files sought by it related to allegations against him.

After the midnight clampdown, the Opposition targeted the BJP-led government accusing it of removing Verma, who they said had planned to order a probe into the controversial Rafale deal. Finance Minister Arun Jaitley dismissed the charges as "rubbish" saying it was done to ensure fairplay in the investigations into the bribery allegations levelled by Verma and Asthana against each other. "It is absolutely essential to restore the CBI's institutional integrity and credibility. The allegations by two top officers of the country's premier investigation agency has led to a bizarre and unfortunate situation," Jaitley said.

The Centre said the action against Verma and Asthana was taken on the recommendation of the CVC, which met on Tuesday night. The Centre divested the two officials of their functions and powers in respect of cases already registered and said they would be probed under the Prevention of Corruption Act. It said grave allegations of corruption by senior functionaries of CBI against one another had vitiated the official ecosystem of the organisation.

 
"The environment of faction feud has reached its peak in the CBI leading to a potential loss of credibility and reputation of the premier investigating agency of the government. It also vitiated the working environment of the organisation which has deep and visible impact on the overall governance," it said.

The government swung into action after the matter escalated to such an extent that Verma, allegedly to settle scores, started arresting his own men and carried out raids on the residences of Asthana and Joint Director Sai Manohar to arrest them. The CVC also said that that appointing Rao was an interim measure which will subsist till the CVC concludes its inquiry and appropriate decision is taken in the light of the probe.

Rao after taking charge transferred as many as 13 officers. Some of them were allegedly close to Verma, and were probing the bribery charges against Asthana. DSP AK Bassi, who was probing a case against Asthana and allegedly paraded and humiliated DSP Devendra Kumar after arresting in the court premises, has been moved to Port Blair in "public interest". Kumar was allegedly arrested on the insistence of Verma over allegation that he falsified the statement of the accused.

The CBI also re-constituted the team probing the case against Asthana. The agency closed down access to two floors -- eleventh and tenth -- inside the CBI headquarters, where entry is allowed only after permission from the acting director. Sources said that the agency is also checking files and records.

The CBI said that the team set up to probe allegations against Asthana will carry out an "impartial and fair inquiry" expeditiously.

"We are making efforts to have expeditious, impartial and fair inquiry in bribery case against Asthana," said CBI spokesperson Abhishek Dayal. He added that the team probing the allegations against Asthana has been re-constituted with best officers. SP Satish Dagar, DIG Tarun Gauba and JD V Murugesan are part of team. He also said that the CBI is functioning as a team and there is no rift within.

CAUGHT IN CROSSFIRE

Alok Verma and Rakesh Asthana have levelled graft charges against each other

THE MIDNIGHT SAGA

11.15 pm  CVC meets and advises government to send Verma and Asthana on leave

11:25 pm  M Nageshwar Rao, interim head of CBI takes charge and begins clean-up

1.15 am  CBI building cordoned off by the city police

 
1.25 am  Acess to Verma’s and Asthana’s offices on 10th &11th floor closed

2 am  Rao transfers a dozen officers and changes investigating officers of several cases.

10 am  Alok Verma moves SC challenging the government’s order

TOP OFFICERS MOVED

Manish Kumar Sinha, DIG and BS&FC, New Delhi transferred to ACB Nagpur Ajay Bassi, IO in the Asthana case was transferred to ACB, Port Blair  Tarun Gauba, DIG ACB Chandigarh to replace Manish Sinha  in Delhi  Jasbir Singh, DIG special crime gets additional charge of HOB BS&FC  Anees Prasad, DIG surveillance moved to administration and personnel wing  KR Chaurasia, HoB of economic offences gets additional charge of DIG surveillance  Ram Gopal HoB, Chandigarh gets additional charge of HOB ACB Chandigarh  Satish Dagar, SP economic offences transferred to AC3  S S Gurm, additional SP CBI transferred to ACB Jabalpur  Arun Kumar Sharma, JD policy is transferred JD MDMA  Sai Manohar, head JD Chandigarh gets additional charge of SIT & TFC zone  V Murugesan, head of zone AC2 (HQ) gets additional charge of HOZ /JD AC1 (HQ)  Amit Kumar, DIG HOB EO3 gets additional charge of the office of JD policy

In the interest of fairness, both Verma and Asthana will sit out by going on leave. A SIT will probe the graft charges against themArun Jaitley, Finance Minister

My removal is patently illegal. The CBI director has a fixed two-year tenure. Alok Kumar Verma, CBI director

The CBI director Alok Verma is trying to thwart investigations in important cases. The allegations against me are false and it’s a conspiracy.Rakesh Asthana, CBI (special director)


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