Case against Asthana: CBI arrests a senior official
New Delhi, Oct 22 (IBNS): The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Monday arrested its Deputy Superintendent of Police Devender Kumar in connection with a bribery case that brought to fore the federal probe agency's internal conflict, reports said.
The bribery case has been registered against the agency’s special director and its number 2 person Rakesh Asthana.
The CBI said Kumar was arrested on charges of falsification of records in an ongoing investigation and said “the role of other officers of SIT (special investigation team) CBI, then supervising the Moin Qureshi case” was also being probed, reported Hindustan Times.
Meanwhile, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has summoned CBI Director Alok Verma and second-in-command Rakesh Asthana to discuss the recent conflicts in the agency.
“PM wants to know the full facts of what is happening,” a PMO official was quoted as saying by The Hindu.
The squabbles within India's federal investigation agency CBI reached a stage where the second man in the probe body has been slapped with charges of bribery.
Media reports report said the dispute between CBI chief Alok Verma and his number 2 Rakesh Asthana "has escalated with the agency filing a bribery case against the latter."
Asthana has in a written statement to the government said a "false FIR (First Information Report)" has been lodged against him", NDTV earlier reported.
Asthana has been named by Satish Sana, a Hyderabad businessman, who was being investigated in a case involving meat exporter Moin Qureshi, arrested in a money laundering case, the report said.
Sana claimed he had to cough up a bribe of Rs. 2 crores to Rakesh Asthana over a period of over 10-months so that he is not named in the CBI case against Moin Qureshi.
However, Asthana rubbished the charges saying it was hurled against him owing to a conspiracy between the accuser and some CBI and Enforcement Directorate officers.
According to the report, he has alleged corrupt practices by CBI chief Alok Verma and his Chief Vigilance Officer Arun Sharma.
He instead alleged that the CBI chief had been paid Rs. 2 crore by Satish Sana for scuttling the probe in Moin Quereshi's case.
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