Four men arrested for 'snooping'outside on-leave CBI chief Alok Verma's house
New Delhi, Oct 25 (IBNS): Four men were arrested on Thursday for allegedly 'snooping' outside the house of Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) chief Alok Verma, who has been sent on leave by the Centre over his rift with his deputy Rakesh Asthana, media reports said.
The men, who were caught by Verma's security personnel, were reportedly sitting in a car outside Verma's house on Akbar road in the national capital.
After taking the men inside the on-leave CBI chief's house, the alleged snoopers were handed over to police, sources told NDTV.
Some reports even claimed the men belong to the Intelligence Bureau, raising suspicion on whether surveillance has been launched on Verma.
Verma meanwhile moved the Supreme Court against his removal on Wednesday. His plea will be heard by the top court on Friday.
Amid internal fight between Verma and CBI's special director Rakesh Asthana, the government has appointed M Nageshwar Rao as an interim chief of the probe agency, media reports said.
Rakesh Astana, who moved the Delhi High court against the First Information Report (FIR) report lodged against him over the bribery case by his own organisation, bringing to fore an infighting within India's premier federal investigation agency, will not be arrested till Monday.
Asthana, who is engaged in a turf war with Verma, had sought a direction from the high court that no coercive action be taken against him in the case.
The CBI on Monday arrested its Deputy Superintendent of Police, Devender Kumar, in connection with a bribery case that laid bare the probe agency's internal conflict.
The CBI said Kumar was arrested on charges of falsification of records in an ongoing investigation and said “the role of other officers of SIT (special investigation team) CBI, then supervising the Moin Qureshi case” was also being probed, reported Hindustan Times.
After bribery charges were slapped against him, Asthana in a written statement to the government said a "false FIR (First Information Report)" has been lodged against him".
Asthana has been named by Satish Sana, a Hyderabad businessman, who was being investigated in a case involving meat exporter Moin Qureshi, arrested in a money laundering case, the report said.
Sana claimed he had to cough up a bribe of Rs. two crores to Rakesh Asthana over a period of over 10-months so that he is not named in the CBI case against Moin Qureshi.
However, Asthana rubbished the charges saying it was hurled against him owing to a conspiracy between the accuser and some CBI and Enforcement Directorate officers.
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