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‘Missed the bus’: Supreme Court on CBI no. 2 Rakesh Asthana’s plea on midnight powershift
CBI special director Rakesh Asthana filed his petition challenging the government’s order sending him on leave, on Friday morning, as the court was about to hear another plea by CBI director Alok Verma.
The Supreme Court on Friday asked CBI special director Rakesh Asthana why he was late in challenging the government’s order sending him on leave, and quipped that he had missed the bus by filing his petition in the morning.
“Why are you late? You have missed the bus. Your petition is not before us,” said the bench headed by Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi, when Asthana’s counsel, former attorney general Mukul Rohatgi said he too had filed a petition.
The court was hearing a petition filed by CBI director Alok Verma, challenging an order issued by the government at 2.30 am on Wednesday divesting him of all duties of the agency.
Verma, who was represented by senior jurist Fali Nariman, had challenged the order the same day.
Asthana, represented by senior advocate and former attorney general, Mukul Rohatgi, filed his petition on Friday morning.
The two top CBI officials were sent on leave following a feud between them, as a fallout of which both accused each other of bribery in connection with cases being probed by the investigative agency.
Earlier, Asthana’s counsel Rohatgi, while leaving for court from his residence, told mediapersons that there was nothing big about the case, according to ANI.
“It is just one more case. What is big about it? It is not as important as you think it is,” Rohatgi was quoted as saying by the news agency.
