The Central Vigilance Commission (CVC) that is vetting the allegations of alleged misconduct levelled by CBI Director Alok Verma against his deputy Rakesh Asthana has called for the relevant files from the investigating agency, top CBI sources said on Saturday.
Through a “secret note” on October 21, 2017 to the CVC, Verma had claimed that Asthana’s role was being probed in at least half a dozen cases.
However, despite a lapse of over a year, the CBI did not furnish an action taken report to the CVC with regard to the probes against Asthana. The CBI did not submit a report even after the agency registered a case of alleged bribery against Asthana, sources said.
“The CVC has called for the relevant files related to the allegations against Asthana and the agency is in the process of sending the files sought by the Commission,” an official said, adding, clarity on the issue will come once the CVC examines the files related to the allegations against Asthana.
In response to the secret note, the CVC had through a letter to Verma on November 9 last year, sought a report on his note and sent several reminders conveying to the CBI Director that the Commission wants the report ‘immediately” and if the enquiries have not reached finality, an interim report bringing out the investigations carries out against Asthana along with the outcome of the probes be submitted to the Commission by October 3, 2018.
The CVC again sent a letter on October 15 to Verma reminding him to send a report on the note by October 22 but it was not submitted till October 23, the day the CVC divested both Verma and Asthana of any supervisory role in the CBI.
Despite registration of an alleged bribery case on October 15 against Asthana, Deputy SP Devender Kumar and two alleged middlemen, the CBI did not send any report to the CVC despite the Commission sending repeated reminders on the progress of investigations against Asthana as flagged by Verma in his secret note to the CVC.
The note was sent to the CVC just ahead of a CVC meeting last year for consideration of elevation of then Additional Director Rakesh Asthana as Special Director in the CBI. The CVC had through a unanimous decision elevated Asthana as the Special Director of the CBI. Subsequently, the Supreme Court had rejected a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) challenging CVC’s decision to elevate Asthana as the number 2 in the CBI.
In response to the CVC’s repeated reminders for submitting the files related to allegations leveled by Asthana against Verma, the CBI through a letter on September 18 this year told the CVC that the concern on the integrity of the officer turned out to be true. The CBI also said in the letter that it has found evidence of criminal misconduct in at least half a dozen cases and that Asthana is aware of possession of evidence of his criminal misconduct by the Bureau. However, the CBI did not furnish the report to the CVC.
CBI spokesperson Abhishek Dayal remained incommunicado despite repeated attempts when approached for comments.