CBI Director Alok Verma meets CVC, presents his side

CBI Director Alok Verma on Thursday appeared before the Chief Vigilance Commissioner (CVC) K.V. Chowdhary and presented his side over the allegations of bribery raised against him by agency's Special Director Rakesh Asthana.

According to the CVC officials, Verma reached the CVC headquarters in south Delhi's INA Market area around 1 p.m. and stayed there for over an hour.

According to CVC sources, besides Chowdhary, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) Director also met Vigilance Commissioner Sharad Kumar.

The officials said that the Commission had recently examined some of the CBI officials who were part of the team probing crucial cases that figured in Asthana's complaint against Verma.

On Tuesday, Verma had refuted all allegations of corruption against him and said that his actions were in the interest of the probe against Asthana.

In his reply to the CVC, Verma has responded to all the eight allegations levelled against him by Asthana.

On August 24, Asthana in his complaint to the Cabinet Secretary had alleged that Satish Babu Sana, an accused in a Moin Qureshi had paid a bribe of Rs 2 crore to Verma.

On October 24, in a dramatic midnight action, Verma was divested of his powers.

On October 26, the Supreme Court directed the CVC to complete its inquiry into the allegations against Verma, who has challenged the government's decision divesting him of his duties and sending him on leave, and appointed one agency's former judges, Justice A.K. Patnaik to supervise the probe, to be concluded in two weeks' time.

The war in the country's premier investigating agency came to the fore after lodging of an FIR against Asthana and others on the statement of Hyderabad-based businessman Sana.

The CBI had on October 15 registered a case against Asthana for allegedly receiving a bribe of Rs 2 crore from Sana which was given through two middlemen Manoj Prasad and Somesh Prasad to sabotage the probe against meat exporter Moin Qureshi.

--IANS

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