A team of Central Bureau of Investigations (
CBI) had camped in the city some days ago to inquire into the opulent marriage of its special director, Rakesh Asthana’s daughter.
The team arrived in the city on October 11 and left the next day, a source close to the development said. Asthana’s daughter Apeksha’s wedding ceremony was organized in at the Laxmi Vilas Palace in November 2016 and a large number of guests had arrived here for the occasion.
Several hotels in the city were booked for the guests. “A team of CBI officials visited the venue of the wedding and the hotels that were booked for the guests. They inquired about the number of guests who had arrived, how many rooms were booked and who paid for the expenses,” sources said. The caterers and other vendors involved in the marriage were also questioned. CBI sleuths had also reportedly inquired about his alleged links with an industrialist and his other local contacts.
Asthana’s daughter’s grand wedding had become talk of the town due to its lavish scale and the number of guests and celebrations that followed. Several prominent Barodians too had attended the wedding.
After the wedding, a party was also organized at an industrialist’s farmhouse on the city’s outskirts. Asthana was posted as
Vadodara police commissioner in 2008 and transferred to
Surat as city police chief in 2011.