Entire team probing Asthana's case shunted out

The CBI on Wednesday transferred the entire team investigating the corruption case against Rakesh Asthana out of Delhi in "public interest" with "immediate effect".

The agency also brought in new faces to probe the allegations against its special director.

The transfers came soon after Joint Director M Nageshwar Rao took charge as the interim CBI chief.

Rao also appointed Satish Dagar, who handled the cases against Dera Sachcha Sauda chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim, as superintendent of police to investigate the case registered on October 15 under the watch of Director Alok Verma, who has now been sent on leave.

Dagar, whose first supervisor will be Deputy Inspector General (DIG) Tarun Gauba, is replacing Deputy Superindentent of Police A K Bassi, who has been shunted to Port Blair in "public interest" with "immediate effect".

Asthana had claimed in his complaint to the Central Vigilance Commission that Bassi was carrying out "roving inquiries" against him on the directions of Verma, who has been divested of all powers by the government along with the special director.

S S Gurm, an additional SP who registered the FIR against Asthana, has been transferred to Jabalpur.

In another order, the CBI transferred Joint Director-Policy Arun Kumar Sharma and posted him as joint director of the Multi-Disciplinary Monitoring Agency (MDMA), probing former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi's assassination case.

V Murugesan has been brought in as a joint director and he will hold additional charge in Anti Corruption-I, in the CBI headquarters.

A Sai Manohar, has been transferred and posted as joint director Chandigarh zone while Amit Kumar, DIG Economic Offence-III, will hold additional charge of joint director-policy.