Modi government Thursday removed four officers, including Rakesh Asthana, from CBI amid an unprecedented churn in the probe agency.
New Delhi: Four Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) officers, including special director Rakesh Asthana, who had a controversial feud with his boss, former director Alok Verma, were removed from their posts Thursday.
Their exit came after weeks of churning at the investigative agency, which, last year, found itself locked in an unprecedented standoff between its two most senior officers who accused each other of corruption.
While a couple of the four officers moved out of the CBI Thursday have been in the news for some time, others, not so much. Here is a look at who these officers are and what their role in the CBI was.
Rakesh Asthana
A 1984-batch Indian Police Service (IPS) officer who was once being considered for appointment as CBI director, Asthana was embroiled in a public feud with his boss Verma.
With the showdown threatening the image of India’s premier investigation agency, the two were sent on leave by the government last October.
Asthana came to Delhi in 2016, when he was first posted as joint director in the CBI, and made additional director the same year. Within 2016, he was also given additional charge as CBI special director.
In 2016, after Anil Sinha retired as CBI director, the Modi government reportedly ignored several senior batches to appoint Asthana as the acting director for a few months.
In October 2017, he was promoted as special director: When his appointment as special director came up for clearance before the Central Vigilance Commission, a supervisory agency for the CBI, Verma is said to have flagged his alleged role in the Sterling case but his objection was overlooked. This posting was later challenged by advocate Prashant Bhushan in the Supreme Court, which rejected the petition.
He had two successes during his tenure in the CBI: The extradition of suspected AgustaWestland middleman Christian Michel to India, and a British court’s nod for the extradition of fugitive industrialist Vijay Mallya. Asthana also filed an FIR against Lalu Prasad in the IRCTC scam, which pertains to allegations that the railway ministry, under the former Bihar chief minister, handed out plum contracts in a quid pro quo arrangement.
As superintendent of police in the CBI, he also arrested the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) chief in the fodder scam in 1997.
Asthana is currently under the lens in seven cases of corruption, which include two FIRs related to the Sterling Biotech case, two related to the arrest of journalist Upendra Rai, and one stemming from the recent CBI searches on a caterer at the Palika Services Officers’ Institute (PSOI) in Delhi. He was also booked by the CBI for allegedly extorting the accused in CBI cases on the promise of relief.
Also read: After Alok Verma, Modi govt now removes Rakesh Asthana & 3 top CBI officers
Arun Kumar Sharma
A Gujarat-cadre IPS officer of the 1987 batch, Sharma was once considered to be close to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
He was initially close to Asthana as well, but the two eventually fell out. Verma posted him as the CBI joint director (policy), one of the most important units of the bureau that decides, among other things, who all can be inducted. Sharma was subsequently given additional charge as additional director.
In 2018, he was asked to head the anti-corruption-3 (AC-3) unit, which is said to be Verma’s favourite and was the one that probed Asthana as well.
Sharma’s fallout with Asthana and the BJP, is said to be the result of an ego clash. Asthana’s allegations that Sharma had floated many shell companies are also believed to be among the triggers of the tiff.
Manish Kumar Sinha
Sinha, a 2000-batch, Andhra Pradesh-cadre IPS officer serving as deputy inspector general (DIG), reported to Sharma at the CBI.
As head of the CBI’s Banking Security and Fraud Cell, Sinha had taken charge of investigating the Nirav Modi fraud case.
He is considered to be one of the most upright officers in the CBI.
In November last year, in an application filed in the Supreme Court, he accused several top functionaries of the Narendra Modi government, including National Security Adviser Ajit Doval, Central Vigilance Commissioner K.V. Chowdary, and junior coal minister Haribhai Chaudhary of alleged interference in the functioning of the investigative agency.
Jayant J. Naiknavare
Superintendent of police Jayant J. Naiknavare is a Maharashtra-cadre IPS officer of the 2004 batch.
He joined the CBI in the economic offences wing and later became the head of the anti-corruption branch. He was earlier posted as the deputy commissioner of police in the anti-narcotics cell in Mumbai.
Those who knew him in the department say that he was mostly aloof and kept to himself.
Also read: In siding with govt, Supreme Court has lot to answer on Alok Verma’s ouster as CBI chief