Ex-CBI spl director Asthana to get clean chit: Report

Former Central Bureau of Investigation Special Director Rakesh Asthana might get to walk free in the graft case filed against him by the former director of the CBI, Alok Verma, according to a report by The Indian Express.

The report prepared by the CBI investigating officer looking into the case has absolved Asthana of the charges levelled against him in the FIR filed by Verma last year. The report by officer SP Satish Dagar is yet to scrutinized by the legal opinion of the investigating agency and will subsequently be sent to incumbent Director Rushi Kumar Shukla once that is done, as per the report.

A closure report, absolving Asthana of the charges, may be filed in a court with Shukla's nod.

The case dates back to October 18 last year when Verma had alleged that the second-in-command in the agency Asthana had asked for Rs 2.95 crore bribe from a suspect in a case to muzzle the case.

The FIR had surfaced amid a power tussle that was playing out between Verma and Asthana with cases and counter-charges of corruption flung against each other that ultimately ended with the two being dislodged by the government in a dramatic midnight move on October 23, 2018.

Asthana was moved out to the Bureau of Civil Aviation Security (BCAS) while Verma was sacked.