CBI officer A.K. Bassi, who was investigating an alleged bribery case against the controversial Special Director Rakesh Asthana, on Tuesday moved the Supreme Court challenging his transfer to Port Blair in Andaman and Nicobar Islands and claimed that he has evidence of bribes being paid to Asthana in the moneylaundering case against meat exporter Moin Qureshi.
"We will see", a bench of Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi, Justice Uday Umesh Lalit and Justice K.M. Joseph said as Bassi's counsel sought an early hearing on the plea.
Seeking a Special Investigation Team (SIT) probe into the allegation of bribery against Asthana, Bassi told the court that he was an investigating officer in the case and had gathered incriminating material when he was sent on leave by the government following an internecine war in the CBI.
In his petition, he cited WhatasApp messages and calls as evidence. He told the court that he has evidence of Rs 3.3 crore allegedly being paid as bribe to Asthana through the Prasad brothers.
Bassi, a Deputy Superintendent of Police, alleged that the statement of Hyderabad-based businesman Sathish Babu Sana "revealed shocking details of alleged corruption and illegal gratification by Rakesh Asthana, the then Special Director CBI, in collusion and conspiracy with other co-accused person namely, Somesh Prasad and Manoj Prasad and other unknown accused persons."
He said that the investigation conducted by him revealed that the act of demanding and accepting illegal gratification primarily pertained to two distinct periods - December, 2017 and October, 2018.
"There are two instances of acceptance of bribe in December 2017 totalling to Rs 2.95 crore and three instances of acceptance of bribe in October 2018 totalling to around Rs 36 lakh," he said.
Bassi, along with 12 other officers of the agency - almost all those in CBI Director Alok Verma's team which was probing bribery charges against Asthana - was transferred by M. Nageshwar Rao, who took as interim chief of the agency on October 23.
In a dramatic midnight action, the government on October 23 divested CBI chief Verma of his charge and made Joint Director Rao the interim Director. Asthana was also divested of all his supervisory responsibilities.
Asthana, a 1984-batch Indian Police Service officer of the Gujarat cadre, is accused of accepting a bribe of Rs 2 crore from a businessman who was being investigated in the meat exporter Moin Qureshi case in order to "wreck" the investigation.
The case was being examined by a special investigation team (SIT) headed by Asthana.
The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet (ACC) took the decision after Verma and Asthana accused each other of taking bribes.
--IANS
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