NGO approaches SC against Nageswara Rao’s appointment as CBI's interim director

The NGO Common Cause has approached the apex court through senior advocate Prashant Bhushan.

NEW DELHI: Delhi-based NGO Common Cause has approached the Supreme Court (SC) challenging the appointment of M Nageswara Rao as interim chief of Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).

The NGO has approached the apex court through senior advocate Prashant Bhushan.

CBI Additional Director M Nageshwar Rao was made the interim director of the country's premier investigating agency on Thursday hours after the removal of Alok Verma from the post of CBI Director. Rao will discharge his duties as CBI boss till a new appointment or until further orders.

Soon after taking charge as the interim boss of CBI, Rao reverted all transfer decisions taken by his ousted predecessor Alok Verma restoring the position of officials as on January 8.

It may be recalled that Verma was removed from his post after a two-hour-long meeting of the Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led Selection Committee in New Delhi. The panel which also included Mallikarjun Kharge, the leader of the largest party in the Lok Sabha and the second senior-most Supreme Court judge, AK Sikri, decided to remove Alok Verma with a 2-1 majority.

Rao, a 1986-batch Odisha cadre IPS officer, was initially appointed the  CBI director late night on October 23, 2018, after Verma and Special Director Rakesh Asthana were sent on a 'long leave' by the government following a spat between them.

The next morning, Rao had ordered several transfers, including of officials probing a corruption case against Asthana like DSP A K Bassi, DIG M K Sinha and Joint Director A K Sharma.