The Supreme Court on Thursday initiated contempt proceedings against additional CBI director M. Nageshwar Rao and others for transferring an officer probing corruption charges against then special director Rakesh Asthana despite two orders not to shift him out without court permission.

The apex court’s directives not to transfer joint director Arun Kumar Sharma had come in the context of a court-monitored probe into alleged sexual abuse at a shelter home for girls in Muzaffarpur, Bihar, which a three-judge bench had entrusted to Sharma.

However, when Sharma was shunted out to the CRPF as additional director on January 18, he was also eliminated automatically from the probe against Asthana, an officer considered close to Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Sharma had placed in Delhi High Court material against Asthana and alleged he was the kingpin of a CBI racket that squeezed money out of those facing investigations.

With Sharma were transferred deputy inspector-general Manish Kumar Sinha and superintendent of police Jayant J. Naiknavare.

Sinha, a winner of the President’s Medal and the Police Medal, had earlier been transferred on October 23-24 night before being brought back.

He had challenged his October transfer in the Supreme Court, airing explosive charges such as a bribery allegation against a Union minister and accusations that the national security adviser had intervened in the probe against Asthana.

While hearing the Muzaffarpur case on October 31 last year, the apex court bench of Justices Madan B. Lokur (now retired), Abdul Nazeer and Deepak Gupta had directed: “Shri A.K. Sharma will continue to be the senior-most officer as a part of the investigating team….”

On November 28, the same bench observed: “Officers of the CBI who will be looking into these allegations and conducting investigations will not be transferred without the leave of this court.”

As Justice Lokur had retired in December, the Chief Justice led the bench on Thursday. A visibly annoyed Justice Gogoi asked the CBI’s special public prosecutor, Raghavacharyulu, on what basis Sharma had been transferred.

When Raghavacharyulu said the appointments committee of the cabinet had cleared the transfer, the Chief Justice asked whether the committee had been told about the two restraint orders passed by the top court against transferring Sharma.

As the counsel lacked the information, the court adjourned the matter to the post-lunch session to enable him to file the details in an affidavit. When the matter came up at 3pm, the CBI counsel told the court that its previous orders had not been brought to the committee’s notice.

“We are initiating contempt against all those officers,” Justice Gogoi told the CBI counsel.

To try and avoid any punishment for the officers, the counsel pleaded that the CBI had been scrupulously following the court’s directions and had done a good job in the Muzaffarpur case.

“They (the CBI) have done so much good work. It (the transfer) is unfortunate,” Raghavacharyulu said.

“Enough is enough…. We will go to the bottom of the case. It is not unfortunate. It has happened. We intend to deal with it,” Justice Gogoi remarked.

Raghavacharyulu requested the Chief Justice to say the officers had “prima facie” committed contempt. But the CJI brushed aside the plea saying: “No, they have committed full contempt.”

“We are going to take this very, very, seriously. You (CBI officers) have played against the Supreme Court of India? God help you, God alone can help you,” Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi, sitting on a bench with Justices Deepak Gupta and Sanjiv Khanna, said.

He directed Rao and all the other officers who had “processed” the file relating to Sharma’s transfer to appear in court personally for the next hearing on February 13, and to file their replies the day before.

The bench also directed CBI director Rishi Kumar Shukla to identify all these officers — who include one with the rank of an additional public prosecutor —and ensure their presence in court on February 13. Rao had been appointed interim CBI director after the government benched then director Alok Verma and his feuding deputy, Asthana, on October 23-24 night. Rao immediately carried out a massive purge, transferring 13 officers, many of whom were probing Asthana at Verma’s behest.

On January 18, Rao transferred Sharma, who was supervising the bribery allegations against Asthana, which Delhi High Court had declined to quash. The ruling was seen as a blow to a purported government plan to elevate Asthana as CBI director.