In a surprising move, the government of India stripped the Central Bureau of Investigation’s (CBI) Director Alok Verma of his duties and issued an order saying that M Nageshwar Rao, a 1986 batch Odisha cadre officer and Joint Director at CBI would take over the duties and functions of CBI Director with immediate effect, Indian Express reported.
Image courtesy: Indian Express
A per early morning reports, raids were conducted at the CBI Headquarters in New Delhi and the office was sealed and outsiders were not allowed inside. The 10th and 11th floor of the CBI building were searched. The offices of both Verma and Asthana had also been sealed. However, the building has now been opened, PTI reported.
This comes after Verma and CBI Special Director Rakesh Asthana were at ‘war’ with each other, with the former having filed an FIR against him in connection with bribery allegations.
Asthana was also dissolved of all his responsibilities yesterday. Asthana, a 1984 batch Indian Police Service officer of Gujarat cadre, is alleged to have demanded a bribe of Rs 5 crore from a Hyderabad-based businessman through two middlemen to help him get off the hook in the Moin Qureshi case.
Both alleged corruption on each other in connection with different cases.
Asthana Tuesday approached the Delhi High Court for quashing of an FIR lodged against him by Verma. The court in response, directed the CBI to maintain “status quo” until Monday on proceedings.
The agency had also arrested its own Deputy Superintendent of Police Devendra Kumar for “faslification of records” in connection with the bribery allegations against Asthana.
Alok Verma joined the IPS in 1979 at age 22 and was allotted to the AGMUT (Arunachal, Goa, Mizoram, UTs) cadre. He was the youngest officer in his batch. Prior to assuming the office of CBI Director, Verma had been Commissioner of Police, Delhi; Director General of Prisons, Delhi; Director General of Police, Mizoram; DGP, Puducherry and IGP, Andaman & Nicobar Islands. He was also the only one to hold the top post at CBI without any prior experience in the agency. Verma was appointed as CBI Director for two years and his tenure ends in December.
