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CBI feud turns murkier; officer names govt officials, minister in plea to SC
Senior officer MK Sinha’s petition requests the quashing of his transfer order, which he says was done with a motive to disband the entire team probing the FIR against Rakesh Asthana.
A senior Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) officer supervising the probe against the agency’s special director Rakesh Asthana moved the Supreme Court on Monday against his sudden transfer to Nagpur with an explosive petition that levelled charges against high-ranking government officials, two of his seniors, a minister, even the country’s top vigilance officer.
Manish Kumar Sinha, deputy inspector general (DIG) of anti-corruption branch, Nagpur, filed his application demanding a court-monitored probe by a special investigation team (SIT) into the corruption allegations against Asthana. Sinha was one of the officers transferred on October 24, within hours of Centre asking CBI director Alok Verma and Asthana to proceed on leave until further orders. The two officers have accused each other of being corrupt — Asthana through a complaint to the cabinet secretary in August and Verma through an FIR filed by CBI against Asthana in October.
Sinha, who was also in charge of the investigation into the fraud perpetrated by jeweller Nirav Modi and his uncle Mehul Choksi, alleged in the petition that his transfer was “arbitrary, motivated and mala fide, made solely with the purpose and intent to victimise the officer as the investigation revealed cogent evidence against certain powerful persons.”
Sinha’s lawyer Sunil Fernandes mentioned his application before a bench led by CJI Ranjan Gogoi seeking its urgent hearing.
“We have shocking revelations to make,” Fernandes said. The CJI simply remarked: “Nothing shocks us.” A bench led by him is, however, likely to hear Verma’s petition challenging his forced leave on Tuesday.
Sinha was part of the team probing allegations that Asthana took bribe to help a Hyderabad-based businessman, Satish Sana, who alleged that the CBI’s No.2 demanded money to give him a clean chit in cases being investigated against meat exporter Moin Qureshi, who has been accused of money laundering.
Sinha’s petition requests the quashing of his transfer order, which he says was done with a motive to disband the entire team probing the FIR against Asthana.
Sinha’s petition also makes specific allegations against the Central Vigilance Commissioner (CVC), KV Chowdhary, who at the instance of the apex court held an enquiry into the bribery allegations against Verma and submitted a report to the court last week. Verma on Monday filed his response to the report in a sealed cover and the court is expected to take this up on Tuesday. Chowdhary said it would be “inappropriate” for him to comment because the matter is before the Supreme Court. He wasn’t the only top government official named by Sinha who also listed law secretary Suresh Chandra, national Security Advisor Ajit Doval, CBI chief Verma, and minister Haribhai Chaudhary of either interfering in or trying to block his investigation. Chandra said he is aware of the petition but added that he doesn’t know Sinha and has “never met him”. The others did not respond to phone calls and messages seeking comment. Hindustan Times couldn’t independently ascertain the veracity of Sinha’s claims.
