The CBI scandal has lurched into a minefield littered with explosive cans of worms.

A serving officer who was shunted out after the midnight raid has approached the Supreme Court with an explosive petition that lists a threat to his life, the possibility of evidence-tampering and specific, if not damning, charges against Rakesh Asthana, the benched special director considered close to the Prime Minister.

The officer who has moved the top court is Ajay Kumar Bassi, the CBI deputy superintendent sent to Port Blair hours after the midnight raid that displaced director Alok Verma.

Bassi’s move stands out because he has filed a sworn affidavit levelling the charges — which he has described as “shocking” — putting at stake his career and taking on a senior officer with friends in high places.

A bench of Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi and Justices U.U. Lalit and K.M. Joseph agreed to fix a date for hearing the petition after advocate Sunil Fernandez, appearing for Bassi, sought an early listing.

Some of the charges levelled by Bassi in the petition in relation to a bribery complaint against Asthana are:

• Bribes of Rs 3.31 crore changed hands in two phases, first in December 2017 and then as recent as this month.
  
• A practice of issuing relentless summonses to a businessman, Sathish Babu Sana, to appear for questioning if bribes are not paid. Sana had claimed that Asthana had offered to help him get a clean chit in a probe linked to meat exporter Moin Qureshi.
  
• A “boss” who conveyed his unhappiness at being made to wait for bribe dues.
  
• Two brothers, Manoj and Somesh Prasad, are said to be the conduits for the bribe, allegedly working in collusion with Asthana. After news of the detention of Manoj became public on October 16 (Saptami) night, RAW special secretary Samant Goel and Somesh spoke over the phone multiple times. Goel then had a round of calls with Asthana, according to the petition. Bassi’s petition has the purported call records and an intercept quoting Goel as telling Somesh: “Do not come to India at any cost.”
  
• Bassi feels that he was transferred on October 24, hours after the midnight strike, to facilitate interference in the probe he was conducting against Asthana.
  
• According to Bassi, all the pieces of evidence mentioned in the petition are in the custody of the CBI and there is suspicion that they might be tampered with or destroyed. “It is unfortunate to note that the present investigating officer has concentrated his efforts not on the allegations in the FIR but has started roving and fishing inquiry in the investigation made by the applicant (Bassi), and that too against the applicant,” the petition adds.
  
• Bassi says he has given all relevant evidence, documents and mobiles phones of Manoj, the alleged conduit, and the complainant, Sana, to Sathish Dagar, the SP who is probing the complaint against Asthana after Bassi was shunted out.
  
• He adds the actions of Dagar since taking charge from the transferred DSP have “created a reasonable apprehension” that “Dagar has been instructed to ensure that Asthana is ultimately provided the clean chit”.
  
• Bassi fears his “life, liberty and dignity” are under threat from “vindictive and vicious officials against whom my investigation was proceeding…”.
  

The Telegraph could not contact Asthana, Goel and Dagar despite repeated attempts. A CBI spokesperson reserved comment, saying the matter is sub judice.

Bassi’s petition goes beyond the recorded statement of the complainant, Sana, by citing information allegedly thrown up by the investigation before the DSP was taken off the case.

Bassi said he was being targeted by the CBI because before his transfer, he had recorded the statement of Sana who had specifically mentioned that the bribes were taken in Asthana’s name by the alleged conduits, Manoj and Somesh.

Then the specifics are mentioned. “The investigation conducted by the applicant (Bassi) herein revealed that the act of demand and acceptance of illegal gratification primarily pertains to two distinct periods of December 2017 and October 2018. There are two instances of acceptance of bribe in December 2017 totalling to Rs 2.95 crore and three instances of acceptance of bribe in October 2018 totalling to around Rs 36 lakh,” Bassi’s petition to the court said.

The Supreme Court bench directed the Hyderabad superintendent of police to provide protection to Sana. But it rejected Sana’s plea to depose directly before a retired judge who is supervising the probe and told him to appear before the CBI.

The Telegraph