CBI names its No. 2 Rakesh Asthana as accused No. 1 in bribery case; lens on RAW official
New Delhi, Oct 21: In a development with wide ramifications, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has booked its Special Director Rakesh Asthana in a bribery scandal, naming him as an accused in an FIR filed earlier this week.
Asthana is No. 2 in the CBI hierarchy. The FIR has also named Samant Kumar Goel, Special Director of India’s external intelligence agency (R&AW), but not as an accused. CBI filed the FIR on Tuesday. It named Asthana as Accused Number 1 for demanding and taking bribe from a businessman who was under investigation in the Moin Qureshi corruption case by a special investigation team (SIT) headed by Asthana.
According to sources, CBI has put telephone intercepts, WhatsApp messages, money trail and a statement before the magistrate under Section 164. Text messages sent to Asthana seeking a reaction went unanswered. Exposing faultlines within, the CBI on September 21, had said that it had informed the Central Vigilance Commission (CVC) that it was investigating Asthana in six cases of corruption. The CBI has also said Asthana was maligning Director Alok Verma’s image and trying to “intimidate” officials by sending a “frivolous” complaint to the CVC against Verma.
Reacting to this, Asthana wrote to the government with a complaint against Verma, saying that the Director had sought to impede his functioning, interfere in investigations and malign his reputation.
The CBI moved against Asthana after the arrest of Dubai-based middleman Manoj Prasad on a complaint from Hyderabad-based businessman Sana Satish whose role was being investigated by the CBI SIT under Asthana in the Qureshi corruption case. Qureshi was raided by the Income-Tax department in February 2014, and his BlackBerry Messenger (BBM) messages with former CBI Director A P Singh led to Singh’s resignation as member of the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC).
Three years later, a case was registered by the CBI in February 2017. This was one of the many important cases being handled by the SIT headed by Asthana.
Satish gave a statement before the Magistrate on October 4, naming Asthana, Prasad and Prasad’s relative, Somesh Srivastava, and gave details of how he had paid Rs 3 crore over a period of 10 months from December 2017 to stay away from the CBI case. Satish claimed he was harassed by CBI officers to pay more. On the instructions of Manoj Prasad, Rs 25 lakh were allegedly paid on October 9 to a conduit to get relief from appearing before the SIT for questioning. After he got relief, Prasad travelled from Dubai to Delhi in the morning to collect Rs 1.75 crore on October 16, where he was apprehended by the CBI team.
The FIR states that Goel, R&AW’s No. 2, was well known to, and had been in regular touch with, Manoj and Somesh. He has not been named as an accused, but his role in the case remains under investigation by the CBI, sources said.
Courtesy: indianexpress.com
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Another North Goa nightclub sealed; Kejriwal says corruption led to fire tragedy
Panaji (PTI): As part of a crackdown against tourist establishments violating laws and safety norms in the aftermath of the Arpora fire tragedy, Goa authorities on Saturday sealed a renowned club at Vagator and revoked the fire department NOC of another club.
Cafe CO2 Goa, located on a cliff overlooking the Arabian Sea at Vagator beach in North Goa, was sealed. The move came two days after Goya Club, also in Vagator, was shut down for alleged violations of rules.
Elsewhere, campaigning for local body polls, AAP leader Arvind Kejriwal said the fire incident at Birch by Romeo Lane nightclub at Arpora, which claimed 25 lives on December 6, happened because the BJP government in the state was corrupt.
An inspection of Cafe CO2 Goa by a state government-appointed team revealed that the establishment, with a seating capacity of 250, did not possess a no-objection certificate (NOC) of the Fire and Emergency Services Department. The club, which sits atop Ozrant Cliff, also did not have structural stability, the team found.
The Fire and Emergency Services on Saturday also revoked the NOC issued to Diaz Pool Club and Bar at Anjuna as the fire extinguishers installed in the establishment were found to be inadequate, said divisional fire officer Shripad Gawas.
A notice was issued to Nitin Wadhwa, the partner of the club, he said in the order.
Campaigning at Chimbel village near Panaji in support of his party's Zilla Panchayat election candidate, Aam Aadmi Party leader Kejriwal said the nightclub fire at Arpora happened because of the "corruption of the Pramod Sawant-led state government."
"Why this fire incident happened? I read in the newspapers that the nightclub had no occupancy certificate, no building licence, no excise licence, no construction licence or trade licence. The entire club was illegal but still it was going on," he said.
"How could it go on? Couldn't Pramod Sawant or anyone else see it? I was told that hafta (bribe) was being paid," the former Delhi chief minister said.
A person can not work without bribing officials in the coastal state, Kejriwal said, alleging that officers, MLAs and even ministers are accepting bribes.
