CBI war: Asthana likely to be sent back to Gujarat

New Delhi, Oct 23: With the war within the Central Bureau of Investigation refusing to die down and the Prime Minister having to intervene in the matter, the special director of the agency, Rakesh Asthana is likely to be sent back to Gujarat.

CBI Director, Alok Verma had met with PM, Narendra Modi and briefed him about the allegations against Asthana. The agency it may be recalled had last week filed a corruption case on a complaint by a Hyderabad based businessman Sana Satish Babu.

The complainant had alleged that the Dubai based brothers Manoj Prasad and Somesh Prasad demanded Rs 5 crore from him for Asthana's intervention. The case on hand relates to the one registered against meat exporter Moin Qureshi. Babu also claimed to have paid the money.

This entire episode has turned out to be an embarrassment for the CBI. Verma on the other hand is set to move a formal proposal to removal of Asthana. This is expected to happen in a day or two. Once this is done, the continuation of Asthana becomes untenable.

In another development, the CBI arrested Devendra Kumar, a superintendent of police with the CBI after his name surfaced in the case against Asthana. His office and residence was searched by the CBI on Monday.

Asthana was brought to the CBI in 2016 by the Central Government and he was tipped to head the agency. Hailing from the Gujarat cadre, he had supervised the probe into the Godhra train burning incident under the capacity of an inspector general of police, Vadodara range. His elevation to the top post in the CBI had evoked sharp reactions from the opposition following which he made way for Verma as the chief.