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When Alok Verma was appointed the director of the CBI in January 2017, he was the first person to occupy the post without having any prior experience in the agency. He was clearly a favourite of the government. His tenure would have ended in January next year.
Another trusted IPS officer of the government, Rakesh Asthana was appointed as the special director of the CBI in October 2017. He had previously worked with the agency and also ran the CBI as interim chief before Alok Verma was made the director. Many believed that Rakesh Asthana was in the line to become CBI director after Alok Verma.
But the two officers fell out even before they could gel together in the CBI. The fight remained under the wraps for first six to eight months before the gloves were taken off in July, when the CBI wrote to the Central Vigilance Commission (CVC) that Rakesh Asthana did not have to the mandate to represent Alok Verma in official meetings.
READ | Inside story of Alok Verma vs Rakesh Asthana fight in CBI
Three months and a volley of charges later, the government intervened sending both Alok Verma and Rakesh Asthana on leave and appointing an interim CBI chief in M Nageshwar Rao on October 24.
Rakesh Asthana had already been stripped of all his responsibilities by Alok Verma a day before. So, the government intervention was in a way an attempt to “neutralise” Alok Verma in the CBI. This left an entire Opposition fuming and alleging that the government acted against Alok Verma to prevent probe into the Rafale deal.
So, here is a look at the important cases that were on Alok Verma’s table when he was asked to go on leave and joint director Rao was put in charge of the CBI.
Rafale Deal
On October 4, two former senior BJP leaders Yashwant Sinha and Arun Shourie, and lawyer-activist Prashant Bhushan sent a letter to CBI director Alok Verma seeking probe in the Rafale deal. The defence deal was done between India and France at government level.
Fighter jet manufacturer Dassault was to supply 36 Rafale aircraft to India and engage with a host of Indian companies as part of its offset obligation. One of the Indian companies is Reliance Defence, promoted by Anil Ambani. Questions have been raised about Reliance tying up with Dassault with many alleging that the Modi government helped Ambani company get the lucrative deal.
In their complaint, Sinha, Shourie and Bhushan have named Prime Minister Narendra Modi among the persons whose role should be probed by the CBI. The letter was sent to Alok Verma a day after a Supreme Court bench headed by Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi sought the details of the decision-making process related to the Rafale deal.
Reports suggest that Alok Verma was about to take a decision whether the Rafale deal was a fit case for a probe by the CBI or not. The decision was expected in a day or two when Alok Verma was shunted out of the CBI in a midnight Cabinet order.
Complaint against PM Modi’s secretary
Another high-profile complaint that lay on Alok Verma’s table was one against PM Modi’s secretary Bhaskar Khulbe. Hailing from Uttarakhand, Khulbe is a West Bengal cadre IAS officer.
The case relates to the period of Buddhadeb Bhattacharya government in West Bengal when coal blocks were allocated to the Ramsarup Lohh Udyog Limited in the Moira-Madhujore block. It was allegedly done flouting the rules. At the time, Khulbe was industries adviser to the West Bengal government.
He was in the good books of the Buddhadeb Bhattacharya government and was made the resident commissioner of West Bengal. After the change of government in West Bengal, Bhaskar Khulbe developed differences with Amit Mitra, the finance minister in the Mamata Banerjee government.
His name cropped up in a coal scam in West Bengal. His role in the West Bengal coal scam is said to be under CBI scanner. Some believe that Khulbe was being “harassed” by the Mamata Banerjee government for having “more than comfortable” information about Sarda chit fund scam.
Complaint against Hasmukh Adhia
Alok Verma was also seized with a complaint against Union finance secretary Hasmukh Adhia. The complainant in this case is senior BJP leader Subramanian Swamy, who accused Hasmukh Adhia of helping PNB fraud accused businessmen Nirav Modi and Mehul Choksi.
Swamy had previously written letters to PM Modi and Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley seeking action against Hasmukh Adhia. He has alleged that some people in the government are trying to protect those accused in corruption cases including former Finance Minister P Chidambaram.
Sterling Biotech
It is a case of alleged bank fraud to the tune of Rs 8,000 crore and money laundering. The Enforcement Directorate has been probing the case.
The ED last year said that bribes were being paid to bureaucrats to bail out the promoters of Sterling Biotech of the case. The CBI in August last year filed an FIR in the bribery case naming Rakesh Asthana as an accused.
Air Asia-Tata Group deal
Subramanian Swamy sent this complaint to the CBI alleging that P Chidamabaram had a role to play in the airline deal. He alleged that the Air Asia-Tata Group deal was done violating various rules concerning national security and civil aviation.
The BJP leader alleged that the deal was allowed in connivance with then Union Finance Minister P Chidambaram.
Two more sensitive cases
Alok Verma was also dealing with two cases of medical admission scams – Medical Council of India (MCI) bribery case and medical admissions scam.
Retired judge of the Orissa High Court Justice IM Quddusi is an accused in MCI case while Justice SN Shukla of the Allahabad High Court is under the scanner in medical admissions case.
Reports suggest that preliminary inquiry reports were ready in both the cases and awaited signature of Alok Verma for extensive probe.
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