Modi Govt. goes soft on Asthana, Sharma,

by Harish Gupta, National Editor, Lokmat Group

Modi Govt. goes soft on Asthana, Sharma,

Rakesh Asthana Made Aviation security Chief,

AK Sharma sent to CRPF

Harish Gupta

New Delhi, Jan. 18

Instead of sending the "rogue officers" shunting out of Delhi, the Modi government showed some mercy on its favourite IPS officers Rakesh Asthana and A K Sharma today. The government on Friday appointed Rakesh Asthana, deposed No.2 officer in the CBI, as the Director, Civil Aviation Security and retained A K Sharma in Delhi too. 

Asthana, a 1984 batch IPS officer of the Gujarat cadre, will now head the Bureau of Civil Aviation Security and serve the organisation for a period of two years, unless curtailed later.

The controversial Joint Director of the CBI, Arun Kumar Sharma, has been transferred as assistant director general of Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF). He is also a Gujrat cadre IPS officer and considered close to the top BJP leadership. DIG Manish Kumar Sinha whose tenure was also curtailed yesterday for levelling allegations against Asthana, Doval & others,  is understood to have been transferred to Bureau of Police Research and Development.

While Asthana was considered close to the PMO, Arun Kumar Sharma was close to deposed CBI director Alok Verma. Interestingly, the government has not yet accepted the resignation of Alok verma from the IPS even after the lapse of one week. No official reasons have been given so far by the government for not accepting his resignation.

It seems the government is thinking of initiating some disciplinary action against him for what he had said in the Supreme Court. His petition has not yet been heard by the SC.

Alok Verma was transferred to the post of director general of fire service, civil defence and home guard. Verma, however, refused the posting and resigned from the Indian Police Service.

Its a double whammy in CBI,

by Harish Gupta, National Editor, Lokmat Group

Its a double whammy in CBI,

CVC fails to pick Director of Prosecution

Fresh applications invites

Harish Gupta

New Delhi, Jan. 14

After the Central Vigilance Commission (CVC) failed to select a new Director of Prosecution (DoP) and sent back the panel of four to the government, the Centre has sought fresh nominations from different ministries.

Highly placed sources say that as O P Verma, DoP in the CBI was to retire on December 24, the CVC had sought names for the impalement and accordingly four names were short-listed for the post. The names were sent to the CVC long before the crisis between Alok Verma and Rakesh Asthana surfaced in October last year.

But serious differences arose within the government and the CVC over the new DoP and in the meanwhile, one of the four aspirants retired forcing the CVC to call for fresh names. Accordingly, the Centre has now issued a notification asking for names from ministries to send names expeditiously to fill vacant post of the Director of Prosecution in the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).

The Director of Prosecution is a crucial post in the federal probe agency. The incumbent, who works under the supervision and control of the CBI Director, renders legal opinion in all the cases probed by the agency, the officials said. The Personnel Ministry has written to secretaries of all government departments for names of eligible and willing officers, not below the rank of Joint Secretary and eligible for appointment as Special Public Prosecutor, they said.

The Department of Personnel has issued a notification today seeking names by January 25 so that "an expeditious decision can be taken for filling the post of Director of Prosecution in CBI".

It is for the first time that the CBI is working without its regular chief and the Director of Prosecution, the officials said.

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Moin Qureshi case fall out

by Harish Gupta, National Editor, Lokmat Group

Exclusive report

Moin Qureshi case fall out

Govt seeks pay offs to top CBI officials from abroad

Harish Gupta

New Delhi, Nov 28

The government is seeking specific information from various countries including Dubai (UAE), Singapore, Hong Kong, UK and other world destinations whether huge payments have been made to certain officials.

The government has specific information, based on investigations done by its agencies including Income Tax that controversial meat exporter Moin Qureshi had paid crores of rupees through hawala operator Sathish Babu Sana and Sukesh Gupta of Hyderabad.

These payments have been made through hawala channels over a period of six years since the days when A P Singh was CBI director. Singh was asked by the Modi government last year to step down from the UPSC as inquiries are on against him. Even his successor Ranjit Sinha is also under the scanner. Now the allegations of huge pay off s surfaced against exiled CBI director Alok Verma and his deputy Rakesh Asthana. Alarmed by series of bribery allegations against the directors of the anti-corruption watch dog, the government has decided to play tough. It decided to send

Letters Rogetory (LRs) to several countries containing names of at least 10 officials who served the government or retired. These sources refused to confirm the names of these officials mentioned in the LR s. None of them was willing to say whether the name of exiled director of CBI figures in the LR. But they confide that the Modi government is determined to cleanse the CBI and other such probe agencies with a heavy hand now.

It has emerged that Sathish Babu Sana was the conduit of channeling the illegal gratification on behalf of Moin Qureshi and channelised extorted money on his behalf. The Prasad brothers in Dubai were also part of this operation. Qureshi & his family members held several bank accounts in various countries. The agencies have given a list of 55 foreign bank accounts into which proceeds of crime were found transferred in seven countries. These were in the US France, UK, Hong Kong, Singapore, Italy and the UAE. .

Qureshi has been extorting and obtaining illegal money from various persons for getting their work done through public servants, said a source in the CBI.

Ends 

CVC grilled Sana for 8 hours in Bribery case

by Harish Gupta, National Editor, Lokmat Group

Special report

CVC grilled Sana for 8 hours in Bribery case

Hyderabad business Sana allegedly paid bribes to CBI officers

Harish Gupta

New Delhi, Nov 14

The Central Vigilance Commission (CVC) grilled Hyderabad businessman Sathish Babu Sana for more than eight hours, a key player in the Verma-Asthana feud in CBI,

The 8-hour grilling, spread over for two days, was held under the supervision of Justice A K Patnaik at the CVC headquarters. The CVC wanted to get at the bottom of the truth as Special Director Rakesh Asthana had alleged that he paid Rs 2 crores to CBI Director. Alok Verma countered it saying that Sana paid bribed to Rakesh Asthana.

Highly placed sources say that prima facie, the CVC report found no significant evidence against Verma. The CVC report raised some questions that require a separate and detailed probe and wanted more time to complete the probe.

The CVC felt that Sana was using one CBI officer against the other to wriggle out of the Moin Qureish case in which he was a conduit in hawala operation.

Asthana was the officer incharge in the Moin Qureshi case. Verma alleged that Asthana was extorting money from Sana since the very beginning. Later, Sana complained to Verma of extortion which led to registration of FIR against Asthana.

The CVC grilled Alok Verma for two days, Rakesh Asthana once and other officers who were dealing with the Moin Qureshi case. The CVC probe also focused on IRCTC Hotel case of Lalu Prasad Yadav and cattle smuggling case involving a senior BSF officer caught with unaccounted for cash in Kerala.

When Justice Patnaik asked Verma why Satish Babu Sana, was not booked under charges of giving bribe, he said the amended provisions of Prevention of Corruption Act gave protection if a person is forced to give bribe. The protection is available if he reports the extortion within seven days. Verma explained that though Sana had started paying bribe in December last year, giving bribe became an offense only in July 2018. Since Sana paid another bribe through Hawala and reported it to the CBI within seven days, action was taken.

Asthana had alleged that Sana paid Rs 2 crores to Verma on October 1, 2018 and signed the confessional statement on October 4, 2018.

But in a strange twist, Sana switched sides and made a counter allegation that he paid bribes to Asthana. Verma registered an FIR against Asthana and others for allegedly taking more than Rs 3 crores to scuttle probe against him. The money was paid over a 10-month period -- starting from December 2017.

ends

Alok Verma to appear before CVC tomorrow

by Harish Gupta, National Editor, Lokmat Group

Alok Verma to appear before CVC tomorrow

Inquiry has to be completed before November 12

Harish Gupta

New Delhi, Nov 4

The exiled CBI Director, Alok Verma will appear before the 3-member Central Vigilance Commission (CVC) tomorrow. Verma has been summoned by the CVC to probe into the allegations of administrative misconduct, delaying probe into certain sensitive cases including one relating to IRCTC land in Patna for hotel benefiting Lalu Prasad Yadav.

The CVC is undertaking this probe as per the directions of the Supreme Court given on October 26. The probe is being supervised by a retired judge of the Supreme Court A K Patnaik. Interestingly, Justice Patnaik has been regularly visiting the office of the CVC to scrutinize documents pertaining to nine allegations leveled by his number two Rakesh Asthana. Incidentally, Rakesh Asthana has also been divested of his duties following an FIR registered against him for bribery.

The CVC is racing against time to complete the probe against Verma within 14 days. This will be first time Verma will be appear before the CVC comprising of K V Chowdhary, Sharad Kumar and Dr T M Bhasin tomorrow. Patnaik monitored probe by CVC is confined to allegations of misconduct and corruption by Alok Verma. The CVC will not look into the issue of government’s decision to send Verma on forced leave. The SC may hear that case separately later.

It may be mentioned that Alok Verma was removed as CBI director on October 23 by the government and M Nageshwar Rao, a junior officer was given the charge. Verma challenged his removal. But the SC decided to hear the case of misconduct and corruption against him first. The SC said the other issues will be heard later.

Ends

Verma VS Asthana saga

by Harish Gupta, National Editor, Lokmat Group

Verma VS Asthana saga

Mystery behind Missing seven Mobile phones

Harish Gupta

New Delhi, Nov. 1

The ugly battle between exiled CBI director Alok Verma and number 2 Rakesh Asthana took a new turn as seven mobile phones crucial to the probe have mysteriously vanished into thin air.

These seven mobile phones were confiscated from the office and residential premises of Devender Kumar, Deputy SP in the CBI, in raids by a special CBI team on October 22.

There was shock and disbelief in the CBI when the news of the recovery of such a large number of mobile phones from a DSP rank officer came to light. Inquiries revealed that Devender Kumar was the most trusted Investigating Officer of Asthana and was handling all sensitive cases. It is said that while one phone was dedicated for talks with Asthana, the other was international operations, third for CBI's official work, fourth for the family and others for being in touch with others.

Highly placed sources in the CBI say that Devender Kumar's telephones were under surveillance by the CBI's technical unit under Alok Verma after a case of bribery was registered against him and others on October 15-16. The CBI also obtained the Call Detail Records (CDRs) of all the telephones used by Devender Kumar and recorded certain sensitive information which may have some serious political ramifications in the days to come. The Verma faction in the CBI is disinclined to share details of tapping of phones of Devender Kumar, Asthana and others by his technical unit at this stage. It is said that Verma faction will disclose more details in the weeks to come.

A clue came yesterday when the CBI told the court that it had recovered only one mobile phone and not eight. This led to protests from Devender Kumar who pleaded that other telephones be returned as well. The CBI said it had seized only one mobile telephone. When Devender Kumar was arrested on October 22, CBI said that it had seized eight mobile phones, one laptop, electric items and documents etc.

ends

"Asthana Apna Aadmi Hai”

by Harish Gupta, National Editor, Lokmat Group

"Asthana Apna Aadmi Hai”

Taped conversations blow the lid off in CBI

Harish Gupta

New Delhi, Oct. 30

"Asthana Apna Aadmi Hai” this is how Somesh Prasad, a Dubai-based businessman told his father-in-law who had gone to collect money from Satish Babu Sana. The money was to be paid to the CBI' special Director Rakesh Asthana as Sana was facing CBI cases and wanted the help of the agency to dilute the same. The father-in-law who is a prominent Delhi lawyer was somewhat scared. But Somesh Prasad told him not to worry as “Asthana is our man”.

One of the WhatsApp messages found in January 2018 in these telephone intercepts says “he can't take panga (Mess ) with them”. The messages were exchanged between the two brothers and Somesh was impressing that Sana should not take “Panga” with Asthana.

None of the players realized that someone in the CBI was listening to this telephonic conversation. Somesh Prasad was sitting in Dubai and monitoring the entire payment plan and his brother Mahesh Prasad was camping in Delhi to complete the deal. Hyderabad-based businessman knew d Prasad brothers as he had businesses in Dubai too. Sana had sought their help to get out of the CBI cases and Prasad brothers were using their clout in the agency.

But they had no clue that their telephone conversations are being tapped Asthana's rival and CBI director Alok Verma. Verma had deputed A K Bassi, head of the anti-corruption unit of the CBI, to investigate the link between Sana and Prasad brothers and he tumbled upon this conversations.

The lid was blown off in the Supreme Court today when Bassi appealed against his transfer to Andaman and Nicobar Islands on October 24. He said this was "malafide and derails a sensitive probe" and added that allegations against Asthana are "grave". He also produced evidence in support of his statement before the apex court. AK Bassi has submitted in court details of WhatsApp messages and calls that he alleges prove Mr Asthana took bribe from a businessman, Sathish Sana, who wanted to be spared CBI summons in an investigation. He further sought an urgent hearing on his plea against the transfer on November 2. The top court said it will look into it.

Though Bassi did not share the evidence, it transpires that phone conversation tapes between Somesh Prasad and Asthana, Asthana's phone conversations with Mahesh Prasad and couple of other players are part of it.

The time-line of phone conversations between Asthana and RAW's number two Sumant Kumar Goel has also been submitted.

The leaking of these conversations and time-line of phone tapes are aimed at exposing how the CBI's number two was involved in taking bribes from Hyderababd businessman Satish Babu Sana through Mahesh Prasad. Sathish Sana has said in a statement to the court that Rakesh Asthana demanded a bribe of Rs. 5 crore from him. More dirt will come out in the days to come from the closet of CBI as war is taking a turn for the worse.

Ends 

Dragging RAW sealed Verma’s fate

by Harish Gupta, National Editor, Lokmat Group

Dragging RAW sealed Verma’s fate 

RAW Chief told PM: Sir, better we shut down ! We are exposed by our own agency

Harish Gupta

New Delhi, Oct 28

Dragging Research & Analysis Wing (RAW), country’s premier external intelligence agency, in the turf war dug CBI Director Alok Verma’s grave on the early hours of Tuesday last.

Highly placed sources say that the Prime Minister was seething with anger with Alok Verma after he exposed RAW’s secret operations in Dubai to settle scores with his Special Director Rakesh Asthana.

No doubt, the government was upset with Verma for the past many months for declaring an open war with  Asthana and even registered an FIR against him.

But his fate was sealed the moment he made RAW’s number 2  Sumant Kumar Goel's name public  in the Asthana case . All hell broke in the top echelon of the Modi government as Sumant Kumar Goel is a highly rated officer. He is in the line of being made RAW chief after current chief retires in December. Verma named Goel in the FIR though not as an accused. An angry RAW chief Anil Dhasmana rushed to the Prime Minister on Sunday -October 21 and told him “Sir its better we shut down the RAW. Our entire operations in Dubai have been exposed by our own agency, our men are in danger ! How can we deliver?”  Dhasmana told the PM that Sumant Kumar Goel was once Dubai’s RAW head. He also told that Mahesh Prasad and Somesh Prasad are the sons of former RAW Director R R Prasad. He was once head of RAW operations in Dubai. Mahesh Prasad is an Investment banker while Somesh Prasad runs his own company. Both the brothers used to help RAW whenever needed and provide vital information. They were in touch with  Sumant Kumar Goel who  was RAW’s operations head in Dubai once.

The problem began when Asthana recorded a statement of a Hyderabad businessman Satish Babu Sana to allege that he had paid a bribe of Rs 2 crores to Alok Verma to go-slow in the Moin Qureshi case. He sent the complaint to the CVC against Verma. But Sana took a U-turnsoon and confessed  before a Magistrate under Section 164 of the CrPC that he paid a bribe of Rs 2.95 crore to Asthana’s middlemen Manoj Prasad and Somesh Prasad to get relief in the Moin Qureshi case. Sana is an accused in the Moin Qureshi case. 

The government avoided any precipitated action and tried to solve the  issue with dialogue even at this late stage. But the moment Verma named Sumant Kumar Goel in the FIR and said that  Mahesh Prasad is being probed for his alleged hawala links as well as connections with certain R&AW officials, all hell broke. The naming of RAW's  number 2 sealed Verma's fate.

 

Ends

Midnight coup in CBI,

by Harish Gupta, National Editor, Lokmat Group

Midnight coup in CBI,

PM sends Director, No. 2 packing finally,

Junior-most Nageshwar Rao made Director

Verma goes to court, Asthana sulks

New Delhi, Oct 24

It was a midnight coup at the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) headquarters never witnessed before when the newly appointed director, M Nageshwar Rao landed there  accompanied by a police convoy to take charge.

The 1986 Odisha cadre officer who hails from Telangana, headed the 11^th floor office of Alok Verma to take charge. There was no one to give him the charge as all top bosses had been sent on forced leave by the government on the recommendations of the Central Vigilance Commission (CVC).

When Verma and his number two Rakesh Asthana went to the CBI headquarters in the morning, they were stopped from entering. While Verma went to the Supreme Court to challenge his ouster, Rakesh Asthana went home sulking. The SC will hear the case on Friday.

The Cabinet Committee of Appointment (ACC) headed by the Prime Minister had issued the order at 11.45 pm yesterday asking Rao to take over the “duties and functions of CBI director with immediate effect.” The decision was taken by the PM at 11.30 pm and the file was sent by hand to the residence of Home Minister Rajnath Singh who is also a member of the ACC. Dr Jitendra Singh, Minister of State in the PMO, had asked Rao earlier to be ready to leave for an important assignment at a short notice. He had no clue what that assignment will be. But all hell broke within the next 30 minutes when the official order was put out making him the new director during the period of “subsistence.” Interestingly, there is no order till now on the website of the DoPT divesting Alok Verma of the charge of the CBI and sending him on leave. However, Alok Verma and Rakesh Asthana were informed about their "compulsory leave" through official messengers.

In a bizarre move, the police personnel of the Delhi Police cordoned off the CBI building at 12.30 am and around 1.45 am, M Nageswar Rao came escorted by a police convoy to take charge. The stories that Rao sealed Verma's office are baseless as all the files are being scanned in the room. A new team of officers has been deputed to probe all pending cases. Nageshwar Rao removed Verma's most trusted officer Additional Director A K Sharma from all the cases. Manish Sinha who is Sharma's junior was also sent packing.

It now transpires that K V Chowdary, Chief Vigilance Commissioner, held a marathon meeting on Tuesday with his two colleagues; Sharad Kumar and M K Bhasin and sent their recommendation to the PM that both the top officers be sent on compulsory leave immediately. 

Chowdary had been asked by the Prime Minister's Office last week to step after efforts to find a solution by NSA Ajit Doval and deputy Principal Secretary P K Mishra failed. It may be mentioned that Nageswar Rao had joined the CBI in 2016 as joint director before his stunning rise as its interim director.

Ends 

Fly on the Wall : Bitter feud bring CBI to a grinding halt

by Harish Gupta, National Editor, Lokmat Group

Fly on the Wall : 

Bitter feud bring CBI to a grinding halt

CBI director Alok Verma may have just four months to go before he demit office on December 1. But not a day passes when he is not involved in a bitter battle with his own deputy Rakesh Asthana. The latest saga began when Verma ordered on the file that statements of all the persons named in the diaries be recorded. In a written note issued to the Special Unit in the CBI, Verma directed that the diaries recovered from the premises of the promoters of Gujrat-based Sterling Biotech company offices be recorded without further delay. Several top politicians, bureaucrats and police officers have been named in the diaries recovered by the Income-tax department in 2011 which have now been handed over to the CBI for criminal investigation. The diaries had names and monies paid to those named. But Verma's target seems to be Asthana who was Police Commissioner of Surat whose name figured in the diaries as well. It is an irony that Verma was brought as CBI chief by the Modi dispensation in December 2016 while Asthana, a Gujarat-cadre IPS officer, is believed to be close to the PM and BJP president Amit Shah. No case has been registered against Asthana, the CBI director wants to formally record his statement in connection with the probe. This annoyed Asthana so much that he knocked at the door of the PMO alleging vindictive attitude of his superior. Verma also crossed swords with the Chief Vigilance Commissioner K V Chaudhary saying that Asthana had no mandate to represent the agency in his absence and should not be "consulted for inducting officers into the agency. Obviously, Verma was peeved that his plans to bring two officers of his choice in the CBI were thwarted by CVC. Verma wanted to bring Rajiv Krishna and R P Upadhyay into the CBI as additional directors. Both are considered close to Verma. But Asthana torpedoed Verma's plans. The last word on Verma-Asthana feud is yet to be written.

Adhia shows who is the Boss !

If CBI Chief Alok Verma is fighting with his Number 2 in the agency, Enforcement Director Karnal Singh has chosen to lock horns with Finance Secretary Hasmukh Adhia, Finance Secretary. While the government was keen that he send Rajeshwar Singh, an ED officer packing, Karnal Singh defied and retained him. But in a bizarre situation Adhia showed who is the real boss. Karnal Singh has lost the latest round with Adhia on the continuation of controversial officer who was handling sensitive cases. Adhia decided to take the command in his own hands and issued a written order sending Rajeshwar Singh on forced leave. The argument goes that Karnal Singh is not the administrative head when it comes to handling of the officers of the ACC level. Rajeshwar Singh investigated many key cases including Aircel-Maxis and others and the government found that all is not well. But Karnal Singh who was hand-picked by the Modi dispensation took a different line. With Karnal Singh due to retire in October, the government will now have the opportunity to anoint a trusted officer of its choice. It is heard in the corridors of powers that he will have the ears of the Almighty.

The games TDP,  PDP play

Two key allies of the BJP may have quit the Modi government and singing a different tune. In the case of Jammu & Kashmir, it was the BJP which deserted the Mufti government one fine morning and Governor’s rule was imposed. But neither the BJP speaking against the PDP and nor the PDP speaking personally against Modi. If insiders are to be believed, the divorce took place as both were losing their respective vote bank and decided to call it a day. May be after the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, they may do business again. The National Conference led by Dr Farooq Abdullah has also sent clear signals that he is not averse to do business with Modi. It was largely because of this very reason that the PDP is abstaining in the Rajya Sabha whenever voting takes place. Same is the case with Andhra Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu who felt that he is losing ground to YSR-Congress for his failure to get “special status” for his state from the NDA. In the competitive politics of Andhra Pradesh, the TDP is left with no option but to part company with the BJP.  The BJP had also developed a feeling that it is not growing in the state. But the BJP is not poaching on the TDP MLAs in Andhra. The BJP is targeting the “corrupt Congress and YSR-Congress leadership”. The whisper in the corridors of power is that TDP will do business again with the BJP after the 2019 polls.  After all, Chandrababu Naidu wants “special status” for Andhra and has no Delhi Dreams like many other chief ministers.

As Sonia frail, Priyanka gives the helping hand

As the health of Sonia Gandhi not in good shape and Congress president Rahul Gandhi trying to cope with the massive pressure of work, young party managers are a worried lot. Though Rahul’s unofficial political secretary and former IAS K Raju is the key man in the system, things have yet to take shape. The loss of weight forced Sonia Gandhi even to abandon her planned trip to Red Fort on the Independence Day. The doctors advised against her visiting the hot & humid weather conditions as she is now weighted around 45 kg only. Though she did walk an extra mile to raise slogans along with the MP s in Parliament on August 10 morning on the Rafale issue, she was looking so frail and weak, the SPG commandoes had a tough time to handle the situation. She went there as Rahul Gandhi had left for Jaipur early morning leaving Sonia Gandhi to cheer up the party MP s. This has given room for intense speculation in the party for a greater role for Priyanka Gandhi. In any case, this being the election year and with Rahul Gandhi travelling all over the country, Priyanka has to focus on UP where the party is pitted against formidable BJP. Priyanka may not have held a position in the party but her writ runs, say insiders. Her official entry into direct political role is just a matter of time as she attended the funeral of M Karunanidhi. In an unprecedented move she also decided to address ladies of an  Entrepreneur's Organization in Mumbai which was a closed-door affair. But she stole the thunder with her highly emotional speech and ladies were seen weeping. It was first time the mighty club of Mumbai realized the oratory skills of Priyanka. In case the party decides to give her a direct role and she herself chooses to emerge from the shadows, prospects of Congress will certainly brighten.