Another CBI officer moves SC, challenges repatration to IB

New Delhi :  A senior Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) officer Ashwini Kumar Gupta on Saturday moved the Supreme Court alleging that his repatriation to the Intelligence Bureau (IB) was done with malafide intention.

Gupta told the apex court that he was repatriated to his parent organisation IB on the ground that the order of his extension has not been received by the CBI.

“No Objection Certificate” from the IB regarding the extension of tenure of Gupta had already been received by the CBI in June before expiry of the deputation period and was forwarded to the Department of Personnel and Training for their approval, he said.

“The repatriation order dated October 24 is vitiated by mala fide and interference in the fair and impartial investigation of the case and intended to penalise and victimise an officer for his honesty and integrity,” Gupta said in his plea.

Gupta has sought top court’s permission to intervene in the matter related to CBI Director Alok Verma challenging Centre’s decision divesting him of his charge as chief of the investigation agency.

In a dramatic midnight action on October 24, the government divested CBI chief Verma of his charge and made Joint Director M. Nageshwar Rao its interim Director. The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet (ACC) took the decision past midnight as war between CBI chief Verma and Special Director Rakesh Asthana escalated over bribery allegations hurled at each other.

Gupta told the court that at present, in CBI, a number of officers are on deputation from different police organisation who are continuing beyond their deputation tenure.

He alleged that singling him out is due to the fact that he was assisting A.K. Bassi which led to unearthing of crucial finding, implicating Rakesh Asthana in Sterling Biotech case registered on August 30, 2017.

Gupta also told the court that Bassi was victimised and unjustly penalised by transferring him to Port Blair, Andaman for discharging his duties conscientiously.

Gupta mentioned about an Income Tax raid at the Sandesara Estate, Vadodara where a diary was found which contained records of the certain transaction of the Sandesara group pertaining to the period from January 1, 2011 to June 28 2011. In the dairy, 23 suspect entries of around Rs 3 crore related to Asthana were found during the probe.

Published on: Nov 17, 2018 at 21:00 IST

IANS