CBI vs CBI Live Updates: New CBI chief to supervise all sensitive cases including Vijay Mallya, Agusta Westland

This unprecedented act of sending the top CBI bosses on leave came after the feud between the agency no. 1 Verma and no. 2 Asthana came out in public.

NEW DELHI: The internal tussle between the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) witnessed some fast-paced development on late Tuesday night which continued well until Wednesday afternoon.

M Nageshwar Rao, the current Joint Director, was appointed as the interim head of the investigative agency by the Prime Minister-led Appointments Committee of the Cabinet on late Tuesday night. Rao will personally supervise all sensitive cases including matters related to Vijay Mallya and Agusta Westland.

On Wednesday morning, CBI Director Alok Verma, Special Director Rakesh Asthana and Additional Director AK Sharma were sent on leave. This unprecedented act of sending the top CBI chiefs on leave came after the feud between the CBI no. 1 Verma and no. 2 Asthana came out in public. 

Verma has now approached the Supreme Court challenging the decision. His case will be heard on Friday, October 26.

Calling it an extraordinary situation, Union Minister Arun Jaitley Wednesday announced that a Special Investigation Team (SIT) will probe into the bribery case against Asthana. 

Later in the day, the CBI also appointed a new team to probe the bribery charges against Asthana. Several top officers in the investigative agency were also transferred during the day.

Opposition came down heavily on the internal tussle at the CBI, holding the Narendra Modi government responsible for the entire mess and denting the central probe agency's credibility. Congress chief Rahul Gandhi also raked up the Rafale angle behind the action against Verma.

Here are the latest updates of the CBI vs CBI case:

24 October 2018

17:01 IST

CBI yet again defended its decision to reconstitute the team probing the case against Rakesh Asthana. "Team probing Rakesh Asthana’s case has been reconstituted for a fair, impartial and expeditious probe. We have put available best resources in the reconstituted team. There were searches and sealing any offices are totally untrue. CBI is working normal," CBI spokesperson said.

16:37 IST

MK Stalin on Wednesday opened a new front in the attack against the central government by questioning the decision of the Prime Minister-led Appointments Committee of the Cabinet to name M Nageshwar Rao as CBI's interim chief.  "Several complaints were sent to CBI director (Alok Verma) against Nageshwar Rao and there are reports that the CBI director wanted to initiate investigations into allegations against him," he said. Read more here.