After Verma, Rakesh Asthana and three more officers 'axed' from CBI
New Delhi, Jan 17: The Centre Thursday curtailed the tenures of Special Director Rakesh Asthana and three more senior officers in the CBI with immediate effect, days after the agency's chief Alok Verma was shunted out by the Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led panel.
Gujarat-cadre IPS officer Asthana, who had an unprecedented feud with his boss Verma, was sent on forced leave by the government in October last year.
The tenures of Asthana, Joint Director Arun Kumar Sharma, Deputy Inspector General Manish Kumar Sinha and Superintendent of Police Jayant J Naiknavare have been curtailed, the Personnel Ministry said in an order.
Verma and Asthana had levelled allegations of corruption against each other. They were sent on forced leave by the government.
Amidst the feud between the two, the CBI registered a corruption case against Asthana when Verma was the agency's chief.
Meanwhile, the government appointed M Nageswara Rao as the interim CBI chief.
Rao had then transferred Sinha, who was probing the FIR against Asthana, to Nagpur from the agency's Delhi headquarters.
His transfer was, however, reversed by Verma who was again in January given the charge of the CBI Director following a decision by the Supreme Court.
Verma was shunted out as the CBI chief by the Modi-led high-powered committee that comprised Supreme Court judge A K Sikri and Congress leader Mallikarjun Kharge as the members.
Verma was then appointed as the Director General of Fire Services, Civil Defence and Home Guards. He, however, refused to take up the new post, saying he had already superannuated from the Indian Police Service after completing 60 years of age on July 31, 2017.
Verma took over as the CBI chief for a fixed two-year term on February 1, 2017.
The tenure of Sinha, whose name had also come up in the CBI controversy involving its two top officers, was also curtailed.
Sinha, in a petition filed before Supreme Court against his transfer, dragged the names of National Security Adviser (NSA) Ajit Doval, Union Minister Haribhai Parthibhai Chaudhary and Central Vigilance Commissioner K V Chowdary over alleged attempts to interfere in the probe against Asthana.
Sharma, who is considered close to Verma, was also involved in the bitter quarrel between Verma and the sacked CBI chief.
Asthana and Sharma are Gujarat-cadre IPS officers. Whereas, Sinha is a 2000-batch IPS officer of Andhra Pradesh cadre and Naiknavare belongs to 2004-batch Maharashtra cadre.
Let the Truth be known. If you read VB and like VB, please be a VB Supporter and Help us deliver the Truth to one and all.
Purported sleazy videos case: Action on suspended DGP after dept inquiry, says Home Minister
Bengaluru (PTI): Karnataka Home Minister G Parameshwara on Sunday said that the government will decide on further action against the now-suspended DGP K Ramachandra Rao based on recommendations following a departmental inquiry into a case concerning videos purportedly showing him behaving obscenely with women in his office.
The minister's comments followed reports that the special probe committee has ruled out Rao's claims that the clips were fake and AI-generated.
"After further departmental inquiry, whatever they recommend, the government will decide based on that. The department has to give a report to the government, and based on the recommendation made, we will take a decision," Parameshwara told reporters here in response to a question.
Since Rao claimed the circulating videos were fake AI creations, they were sent to the Forensic Science Laboratory (FSL), the minister said in response to a question.
"A team was formed in the department to find the truth. They have submitted a report to the department. The department will have to inform the government about the same, based on which further action will be taken," he added.
The state government had formed a team of four IPS officers, led by R Hitendra, Additional Director-General of Police (Law and Order), to conduct a preliminary inquiry in the case.
The government in January suspended Rao, the 1993-batch IPS officer serving as the DGP, Directorate of Civil Rights Enforcement (DCRE), after viral videos purportedly showing him acting in an obscene manner surfaced.
The videos purportedly show the 59-year-old hugging and kissing women while in office. He was wearing a police uniform in a few videos. Rao had, however, called the videos "fabricated" and vowed to take legal action.
There were even reports that the videos were shot in 2016-17 inside the office of the Inspector General of Police - Belagavi range.
