NSA Ajit Doval interfered in Rakesh Asthana probe: CBI officer

CBI officer Manish Kumar Sinha, who was abruptly transferred while investigating bribe charges against Rakesh Asthana, also said that Doval did not allow searches even though those were important for the enquiry.

According to him, on Oct 17, CBI director Alok Verma briefed Doval about Asthana being named in an FIR.

The same night, "it was informed that the NSA has informed Rakesh Asthana about the registration of FIR. It was informed that Rakesh Asthana reportedly made a request to NSA that he should not be arrested," NDTV quoting the petition reported.

In the court, Sinha claimed that a union minister of state took "a few crores" to help a businessman under investigation, said reports.

He has petitioned in the apex court against his transfer to Nagpur.

Requesting for an urgent hearing on Tuesday, the CBI officer said he had "documents that will shock the court".

However, Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi rejected his request stating that "Nothing shocks us."

Sinha has named Prime Minister Narendra Modi's office in the CBI vs CBI case.

He claimed to have heard an officer saying, on the day the Centre had sent the CBI's top two - director Alok Verma and his deputy Rakesh Asthana - on compulsory leave and transferred the entire team investigating against Asthana, that "things have been managed with PMO and everything is fine", NDTV reported.

However, there is still no reaction from the government or Ajit Doval concerning the issue.