New Delhi: A deputy superintendent of police in the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) – who was probing the corruption allegations against Rakesh Asthana – has filed a writ petition in the Supreme Court against his transfer to the Anti-Corruption Branch in Port Blair.
Ajay Kumar Bassi has claimed that his transfer order of January 11 was mala fide, aimed at victimising him and derailing the probe against the former CBI special director.
Transfer violates SC order
In his petition, Bassi, who was earlier serving as DSP in Anti-Corruption-III unit of CBI in New Delhi, charged that his transfer order was also “violative of the directions issued” by the apex court on January 8 in the case of Alok Kumar Verma vs Union of India.
He said the “order seeks to unfairly prejudice the investigation against Shri Rakesh Asthana, in FIR RC 13(A)/ 2018/AC-III dated 15.10.2018.” This case was registered by the CBI in New Delhi on a complaint received from a Hyderabad-based businessman, Sathish Babu Sana. Asthana was booked under sections of Prevention of Corruption Act and the Indian Penal Code.
The businessman had allegedly paid a bribe to get relief in a case. Sana had also made allegations of corruption, extortion, high-handedness and serious malpractice against Asthana.
HC refused to quash FIR against Asthana
Incidentally, the Delhi high court earlier this month refused to quash the FIR against Asthana and directed CBI to complete the investigation in the case within ten weeks.
In his petition, Bassi said he apprehended that his transfer order was also “the first step to implicate” him in “false criminal cases/departmental proceedings for discharging his duties in a fair and impartial manner” in the Asthana investigation. He said the order also did not disclose the reasons behind his transfer.
Bassi, who served in the Intelligence Bureau from 1986 to September 1999 before joining the CBI, said he worked on several important cases in the bureau. These included the ‘Pradyuman Thakur Ryan International School case’, ‘Telgi Fake Stamp Paper case’, ‘Sariska Tiger Poaching case’, ‘Foreign Tourist Kidnapping case, registered on the basis of the Complaint received from Scotland Yard London’ and ‘Sansar Chand Wildlife case’ to name a few.
Bassi intervened in Alok Kumar case
Earlier, Bassi also filed an intervention application in the Supreme Court in the case of CBI director Alok Kumar Verma’s forced leave. He said the apex court allowed his writ on January 8 and passed a direction.
After the apex court struck while striking down the Central Vigilance Commission’s order of sending Verma on forced leave and restored him as director, Bassi said he made a representation to him on January 9, which was allowed and he was transferred back to Delhi and re-assigned his earlier duty.
Rakesh Asthana. Credit: PTI.
Like Verma, Bassi too removed from post twice
However, he said, on the high powered committee’s recommendation, Verma was divested of his charge as director of CBI on January 11. On the same day, Bassi said M. Nageswara Rao, who was once again made interim director issued instructions for his transfer. He said this order was “bad in law and deserves to be set aside”.
Also read: M. Nageshwar Rao’s Appointment as Interim CBI Director Challenged in SC
Bassi cited several reasons for setting aside his transfer order. He submitted that his petition to Verma on January 9 was “in pursuance to the liberty granted” by Supreme Court and once it was accepted, he was transferred back to Delhi. Thus, he said, the order of January 9 could not be revoked “without application of mind and without any stated reason”.
No reason given for second transfer
Also, Bassi said during the two days he served in Delhi – January 9 and 10 – he performed certain official and administrative tasks. However, he claimed “the impugned transfer does not go into the merits of any decisions taken or functions performed” by him but “passes a generic order rendering everything and all acts performed” by him to be non-est or unlawful and void ab initio. Therefore, he claimed, it “goes against all judicially accepted canons of administrative law”.
Most importantly, Bassi said his transfer order was violative of the directions passed by the Supreme Court in Alok Verma case, which, he insisted “had attained finality”.
Stating that his was “not a routine case of a transfer of an officer”, Bassi claimed his transfer was part of a “deep rooted conspiracy, aimed at influencing the course of the investigation” against Asthana and to penalise him for discharging his duties in a free and impartial manner. He expressed the apprehension that “the course of the investigation will be influenced in such a manner that investigators will soon be arraigned as accused persons.”
‘Not part of any faction’
Victimised Bassi also claimed that he was never a part of any “group or faction” within the CBI and has no concern whatsoever with the alleged disputes that have erupted within the organisation.
However, he said, his transfer order does not even make an attempt to distinguish his case from that of Verma. He added that it was “passed in an unseemly haste” which only vindicated his apprehension that the reason behind it was “more than what meets the eye”.
‘Rao represents elements who do not want fair probe against Asthana’
The CBI DSP also charged that he was being victimised by interim director Rao “who represents certain elements within the CBI”, who did want him to conduct a free and fair investigation in the Asthana FIR.
“It was Shri M Nageswara Rao who had passed the infamous transfer order dated 24.10.2018 of the petitioner herein and it is again the same Shri M Nageswara Rao at whose behest and direction the instant impugned transfer order has passed, in utter disregard to the judgment of this Hon’ble Court in Alok Verma supra,” the petition stated.