Alok Verma was stripped of all his responsibilities as the CBI director (Express Photo by Tashi Tobgyal)
In a dramatic move overnight, the central government waded into the ongoing tussle between two top officials of Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) by divesting the agency’s director, Alok Verma of his charge. It also issued an order saying that M Nageshwar Rao, Joint Director at CBI shall take over the duties and functions of CBI Director with immediate effect.
“The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet has approved that during the period of the subsistence of the aforesaid interim measure, cited in reference above, Shri M Nageshwar Rao, IPS, presently working as Joint Director, CBI shall look after duties and functions of Director CBI and shall take over the duties and functions with immediate effect,” the government notification read.
The dramatic move comes at a time when Verma was at loggerheads with the CBI Special Director Rakesh Asthana, booked by the agency in an alleged bribery case. Asthana was also stripped of all his responsibilities at the agency yesterday. Asthana, a 1984 batch Indian Police Service officer of Gujarat cadre, is alleged to have demanded a bribe of Rs 5 crore from a Hyderabad-based businessman through two middlemen to help him get off the hook in the Moin Qureshi case.
Verma also alleged corruption on Asthana’s part with regard to the Sterling Biotech case. Asthana hit back by writing to the Cabinet Secretary saying that Verma was interfering in his probes and had tried to stall a raid on Lalu Prasad in the IRCTC case. He also alleged corruption on Verma’s part.
Asthana Tuesday approached the Delhi High Court for quashing of an FIR lodged against him by Verma. The court inturn directed the CBI to maintain “status quo” until Monday on proceedings. The agency had also arrested its own Deputy Superintendent of Police Devendra Kumar for “faslification of records” in connection with the bribery allegations against Asthana.
#NageshwarRao is an IPS officer from Odisha cadre, joined CBI as joint director, promoted to additional director this year. A chemistry post graduate from Osmania University, did his research in Madras IIT, before joining the IPS in 1986. #CBIvCBI @IndianExpress pic.twitter.com/GO4amkNGSG
— rahul tripathi (@rahultripathi) October 24, 2018
Alok Verma joined the IPS in 1979 at age 22 and was allotted to the AGMUT (Arunachal, Goa, Mizoram, UTs) cadre. He was the youngest officer in his batch. Prior to assuming the office of CBI Director, Verma had been Commissioner of Police, Delhi; Director General of Prisons, Delhi; Director General of Police, Mizoram; DGP, Puducherry and IGP, Andaman & Nicobar Islands. He was also the only one to hold the top post at CBI without any prior experience in the agency.