CBI officer AK Bassi on Monday moved to the Supreme Court against his transfer to Port Blair, contending that he had been targeted for conducting a “fair” probe against former CBI Special Director Rakesh Asthana and others.
AK Bassi, in his petition, said his transfer would prejudice the probe in the alleged corruption case against ousted CBI Special Director Rakesh Asthana.
“It is passed by an officer/authority not competent to pass such orders. The impugned order intends to victimize the Petitioner herein. The impugned order seeks to unfairly prejudice the investigation against Rakesh Asthana, in FIR RC 13(A)/ 2018/AC-III dated October 15, 2018,” said Bassi, who was the investigating officer in the Asthana case.
Bassi was on October 24 last year issued orders for a transfer to the capital of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, hours after Nageswara Rao was made the Interim Director of CBI following the government’s decision to send the then Director Alok Verma and Asthana on leave in the wake of their fights.
Alok Verma, who resumed his post on January 9 after being reinstated by the Supreme Court, had immediately annulled Bassi’s transfer and others. In the first move, Reinstated CBI Chief Alok Verma withdraws transfer orders issued by successor Rao
However, later after Verma was sacked by the high powered panel on Jan 10, and his successor as Interim Chief Nageshwar Rao again reversed all transfer orders. Interim CBI chief Nageshwar Rao reverses transfer orders issued by Alok Verma
The DSP Bassi said that his transfer wasn’t the routine case of a transfer of an officer. Bassi, in his application in the Verma case, had submitted that his transfer is pursuant to a deep-rooted conspiracy aimed at influencing the course of the investigation against Asthana.
The Centre had in October last taken a decision against Alok Verma and CBI’s Special Director Rakesh Asthana after their feud become public as they made allegations of corruption against each other.