CBI vs CBI: Chief Alok Verma and Rakesh Asthana sent on leave, Nageswar Rao takes charge

CBI director Alok Verma and special director Rakesh Asthana have been sent on leave on Wednesday in the midst of an internal rift over bribery allegations against the latter.

Along with Alok Verma and Rakesh Asthana, few other CBI officers were also relieved of their charges within the agency. These include Arun Sharma, who was the joint director of policy and anti-corruption within the CBI, and Manish Sinha, a deputy inspector general-level officer.

In the interim, CBI joint director Nageswar Rao will take charge of the investigation agency. Nageswar Rao is a 1986 batch IPS officer from the Odisha cadre.

The move comes after the CVC passed an order seeking removal of all powers, of both Alok Verma and Rakesh Asthana.

Notably, it is alleged that Asthana took Rs 3 crore bribe from Satish Rana, who has in the past been on CBI radar after being associated with meat exporter Moin Qureshi. The CBI on October 15, booked Asthana in a bribery case. However, Asthana said that it was Verma and not him, who had accepted and received the money.

Asthana, later moved to High court claiming that the agency cannot arrest him simply based on the FIR they have filed. The court has given him an interim relief, a period during which CBI cannot arrest him.

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