Hours after being ordered to go on leave, CBI director Alok Verma moved the Supreme Court against the removal from the top post. 

Gopal Sankaranarayanan, lawyer appearing for Alok Verma, told the Supreme Court that the central government asked Verma and Special Director Rakesh Asthana to go on leave in morning. Verma’s counsel said that the order will compromise the investigation into many sensitive cases.

Verma’s plea has been accepted by the top court and is likely to be heard on Friday. 

On Wednesday morning, M Nageshwar Rao was appointed as the interim director of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) with immediate effect.

Nageshwar Rao, a 1986 batch Indian Police Service (IPS) officer of the Odisha cadre, was working as the Joint Director in the investigating agency. 

He will look after the duties and functions of Director, CBI, and will take over the duties and functions with immediate effect, read an order from the central government.

The decision comes a day after CBI Special Director Rakesh Asthana moved the Delhi High Court seeking the quashing of First Information Report (FIR) filed against him by the premier investigating agency of India. The court later ordered that no action would be taken against Asthana until next hearing, which is scheduled for October 29.

The CBI had filed an FIR against Asthana for allegedly accepting a bribe from a businessman, who was related to Moin Akhtar Qureshi case. Asthana was heading the Special Investigation Team (SIT) that was probing Qureshi's case.

Meanwhile, Asthana had also said that the CBI director Alok Verma was trying to thwart investigations in important cases. 

However, the CBI later issued a statement in which it defended Verma.