CBI appoints new team to probe case against Rakesh Asthana

Soon after M Nageshwar Rao took charge as the interim director of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), he set up a new three-member team to probe the case against CBI Special Director Rakesh Asthana.

The team includes acting Joint Director V Murugesan, Deputy inspector general (DIG) Tarun Gauba and Superintendent of Police (SP) Satish Dagar.

Also, Rao gave additional charges to 13 officials. Manish Kumar Sinha DIG AC3 and BS&FC New Delhi was transferred to ACB Nagpur in public interest. Sinha was further directed to join his new place of posting immediately and relieve Vijayendra Bidari from additional charge of ACB, Nagpur.

Gauba DIG ACB Chandigarh was transferred to AC3 Delhi in place of Sinha with immediate effect.

Jasbir Singh, DIG/HoB, Special Crime 1 shall hold additional charge of HoB, BS&FC, Delhi, while Ram Gopal HOB of SCB Chandigarh will hold additional charge of HOB ACB Chandigarh.

Anish Prasad, DIG/SU-I posted as DD(Admn & Pers.) with immediate effect and accordingly he stands relieved from SU-I. KR Chaurasia, DIG/HoB, EO-I shall hold additional charge of DIG/SU-I 5. with immediate effect.

Ram Gopal, HoB, SCB, Chandigarh shall hold additional charge of HoB, ACB, Chandigarh with effect. Dagar, SP, EO-Ill, New Delhi transferred and posted as SP AC-III, New Delhi with immediate effect.

Arun Kumar Sharma, JD(P), New Delhi transferred and posted as HoZ/JD, MDMA, New Delhi in public interest with immediate effect. A Sai Manohar posted as HoZ/JD, Chandigarh Zone with headquarters at New Delhi with an additional charge of SIT and TFC Zone in public interest with effect.

Murugesan, HoZ/AC-II(HQ) Zone will hold additional charge of HoZ/JD AC-I (HQ), New Delhi, with immediate effect. He will continue to hold charge of HoB/E0-11 Branch, New Delhi.

Amit Kumar, DIG/HoB, E0-111, New Delhi shall hold additional charge of office of JD(P). A K Bassi, Deputy SP, CBI, AC-III, New Delhi was transferred and posted as Deputy SP, CBI, ACB, Port Blair. Bassi was further directed to join his new place of posting with immediate effect in public interest.

SS Gurm Additional SP CBI, AC-Ill, New Delhi was transferred and posted in CBI, ACB, Jabalpur in the same capacity in public interest. He was further directed to join his new place of posting with immediate effect.

The decision comes a day after Asthana moved the Delhi High Court seeking the quashing of First Information Report (FIR) filed against him by the premier investigating agency of India. The court later ordered that no action would be taken against Asthana until next hearing, which is scheduled for October 29.

The CBI had filed an FIR against Asthana for allegedly accepting a bribe from a businessman, who was related to Moin Akhtar Qureshi case. Asthana was heading the Special Investigation Team (SIT) that was probing Qureshi's case.

Earlier, Asthana had also said that the CBI director Alok Verma was trying to thwart investigations in important cases. However, the CBI later issued a statement in which it defended Verma.