M Nageswara Rao, the interim CBI chief, has ordered the closure of a case registered by the agency against 9 Income Tax officials and a Chennai-based chartered accountant despite the Supreme Court asking him not to take any significant decisions.
Rao has denied the charge.
The IT officials were accused of seeking favours – stays in five star hotels, conveyance in luxury cars and air tickets – from a Chennai-based chartered accountant in lieu of helping the latter’s clients. The 2016 case was a consequence of another case registered a year earlier against the same chartered accountant and a joint commissioner-level I-T official posted in Chennai.
A CBI official under the condition of anonymity said,“During the course of investigation in the first case, the agency found evidence that suggested there were other IT officials too who took favours from the same chartered accountant and his sons. Therefore the second case was registered against nine IT officials in 2016.”
In March, CBI’s Chennai branch, then headed by Rao, decided to close this case in “absence of evidence” and the CBI director Alok Verma approved of this.
Verma, however, changed his mind later.
According to a CBI official, Alok Verma visited Madurai on June 7 for the inauguration of a new CBI branch, where he reviewed cases under the Chennai branch and orally issued instructions to reopen the case and conduct a fresh investigation.
When asked to clarify on the oral directions of Alok Verma in June to reopen the case, the spokesperson denied giving statement.
On October 23, CBI’s director Verma and deputy Rakesh Asthana were both stripped of their responsibilities. Verma challenged his removal in SC. At the time, the court ordered Rao to not take any policy decisions.