New Delhi: With the rift between the two top officials at the Centre Bureau of Investigation (CBI) widening, the agency has raised direct questions about special director Rakesh Asthana’s intentions.
While Asthana has reportedly filed a complaint with the CVC alleging that CBI director Alok Verma was impeding his functioning as special director, the agency said “the CVC has sought for certain case files from the CBI on the basis of a complaint filed by the Special Director, CBI. In its response to the CVC letter, the chief vigilance officer (CVO) of CBI has pointed out that the complaint is an attempt by the complainant to intimidate the officers of CBI who are investigating his role in at least half a dozen cases.”
While Asthana and Verma have been at loggerheads, the CBI stated that the CVC needed to focus closely on “the maintainability of the complaint and consider it malicious and frivolous in order to protect the integrity of the organisation.”
CBI has pointed out in its letter to CVC that the issue relating to the IRCTC case was raked up earlier also and brought before the Supreme Court on two occasions. The matter was dismissed by the Supreme Court. The petitioners were also in possession of information from highly confidential internal documents, which is a serious offence.
In the letter written by Asthana to the CVC, it was also alleged that Verma had called off raids against Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) chief Lalus Prasad Yadav, last year, in the ongoing probe in the IRCTC tender issuance case.
“The allegation of preventing raids against the accused in the IRCTC case is absolutely false. The investigation of the case has resulted in filing a chargesheet before the designated court. This could not have been possible without the explicit approval of the Director CBI,” the agency said in a statement, on Friday.
The agency also added that, “Irrespective of the maintainability of the complaint, CBI has provided most of the files as requested by the CVC and the remaining will be submitted soon.”