On Tuesday, estranged CBI officer Rakesh Asthana was relieved of all his duties and power by the CBI director Alok Verma, as reported in India Today.
Asthana is the special director of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) agency and was second to power after Verma. According to reports, the two shared a bitter relationship following some internal feud. Though Asthana continues to remain a CBI officer but will be not able to any exercise any power that was given to him as the special director.
Asthana is said to have been heading a Special Investigation Team (SIT) at the CBI. The SIT team is currently investigating the high-profile cases of fugitive businessman Vijay Mallya, meat exporter Moin Qureshi and former finance minister P Chidambaram among many others. Rakesh Asthana will no longer be involved in any investigation or in any work related to these cases.
Earlier, the CBI on October 15, booked Asthana in a bribery case, which accused him of having accepted Rs 3 crore bribe. Ashtana accepted the charges that the money was provided to him.
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This development comes against the backdrop of a bitter feud between Asthana and Verma. While he accepted that a bribe was accepted, Ashtana said that it was Verma and not him, who accepted and received the money.
He 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 no CBI agency can arrest him.
It is alleged that Asthana took Rs 3 crore bribe from a man named Satish Rana, who has in the past been on CBI radar after being associated with meat exporter Moin Qureshi.
Qureshi is currently being investigated by the CBI for money laundering and extortion.