As reported by The Indian Express, the CVC had called a meeting on July 12 to clear these extensions and sought Asthana’s presence as the CBI director was attending an Interpol meet in Uruguay.
Four CBI officers, regarding whose extension of tenure the Central Vigilance Commissioner (CVC) had recently called CBI special director Rakesh Asthana for a meeting, but the agency’s director Alok Verma refused to send him, have been granted extension.
Among those whose tenure has been extended by a panel headed by Central Vigilance Commissioner K V Chowdhary are CBI Joint Directors A Y V Krishna and Sai Manohar Aramane, DIG MK Sinha and DIG Aneesh Prasad. Aramane was part of the Asthana-led Special Investigation Team probing the AgustaWestland case and cases against fugitive businessman Vijay Mallya.
As reported by The Indian Express, the CVC had called a meeting on July 12 to clear these extensions and sought Asthana’s presence as the CBI director was attending an Interpol meet in Uruguay. The director, however, wrote to CVC that Asthana could not be sent for the meeting as he was under probe. He had also written that several officers being considered for induction into CBI were of doubtful credentials and under probe. The episode exposed fault lines within the agency.
The competent authority has approved extension in the tenure of Aramane, a 1995-batch IPS officer of Madhya Pradesh cadre, from July 17, 2018 till April 2019, a recent order issued by the Personnel Ministry said.
Aramane’s batchmate Krishna has also been given an extension from July 18, 2018 till January 17, 2020, it said.
The competent authority has approved extension in the tenure of Manish Kishore Sinha from April 3, 2018 to November 30, 2018, the order said.
The tenure of another senior IPS officer Anish Prasad, who was in May repatriated to his cadre state Tripura and called back soon after, has also been extended from June 3, 2018 to May 5, 2020, according to another order by the Personnel Ministry.
He is posted as Deputy Director (Administration) in the CBI headquarters here.
The tenure of IPS officer Prem Kumar Gautam, associated with the probe into the coal blocks scam, has also been extended. The approval of competent authority is conveyed for extension in the central deputation tenure of Gautam for a period from January 27, 2018 till the date CBI gets permission/further direction from the Supreme Court, the order said.
The apex court, which is monitoring probe into the multi-crore coal block scam involving some politicians, businessmen and former bureaucrats, has said no officer associated with the investigation should be removed from the team without its permission, according to the officials.