No wrongdoing: CBI chief to CVC

Tribune News Service 

New Delhi, November 8 

Director of the CBI Alok Verma and Special Director Rakesh Asthana on Thursday met Central Vigilance Commissioner KV Chowdary over allegations levelled against each other. The top CBI officers met Chowdary and Vigilance Commissioner Sharad Kumar separately. 

Sources said Verma reached the CVC office late afternoon and was there for about two hours. He refuted the charged levelled by his deputy, it is learnt. Both Asthana and Verma have been sent on leave by the government.

The Central Vigilance Commission had recently examined CBI officials probing crucial cases mentioned by Asthana in his complaint against the CBI chief. Officials said CBI personnel from the rank of Inspector up to Superintendent of Police were called and their versions recorded. Among them were those who had handled the Moin Qureshi bribery case, the IRCTC scam involving former Railways Minister Lalu Prasad Yadav and the cattle smuggling case in which a senior BSF officer was caught with wands of cash.

The Supreme Court had on October 26 given the CVC  two weeks to complete its inquiry into Asthana’s charges against Verma under the supervision of retired top court judge Justice AK Patnaik which, it said, was a  “one-time exception”.