CBI bribery case against top officer Rakesh Asthana based on messages, call records

The CBI claims to have analysed nine phone calls immediately after middleman Manoj Prasad was held in the alleged bribery case against its Special Director, Rakesh Asthana, to allege that there was panic after the middleman’s brother got “wind” of the arrest, officials said on Sunday, October 21.

The CBI has registered a case against Asthana on the basis of claims made by a businessman, Sathish Sana, probed by him in a separate case, that he was asked to pay a bribe of ₹5 crore by Manoj Prasad, an investment banker based in Dubai to get relief from repeated summons and a clean chit in the case, they said.

Surprisingly, Asthana, the second-in-command in the agency, had intimated the cabinet secretary nearly two months ago that Sana had allegedly paid a bribe of ₹2 crore to Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) Chief Alok Verma to get relief in the case.

The agency, however, claimed on Sunday, October 21, that Sana had appeared before the magistrate and stated that he made payments between December, 2017, and October, 2018, to a middleman, who had cited his purported connection with Asthana to ensure relief for him.

On the basis of his claims, the agency arrested Manoj Prasad on October 16 when he was returning from Dubai to allegedly collect an installment of the agreed bribe amount. Nowhere in the statement, which is now part of the FIR, made public nearly five days after registration, Sana had mentioned any direct meeting, interaction or payment of bribe to Asthana.

According to the call data analysis done by the CBI, the phone calls were allegedly exchanged between Asthana and a senior officer of another intelligence agency, who wanted to confirm the details of the middleman’s arrest. The calls were also exchanged between the senior officer and the wife of the middleman Someshwar Prasad,  brother of middleman Manoj Prasad, among others, an officer claimed.

The sources claimed that call data records show that four calls were exchanged between Asthana and the senior officer on October 17, 2018, a day after the arrest. They claimed that Someshwar Prasad, “somehow” got news of the latter’s arrest on October 16, 2018 and immediately called his contact, the senior officer of the intelligence agency on the same day.

A call was then made by the officer to Someshwar within a minute, they claimed. Next day, the intelligence agency officer allegedly called Asthana to purportedly know the situation. Three more calls were exchanged between the two, the agency claimed.

The officer of the intelligence agency also spoke to the wife of Someshwar Prasad, they claimed. In addition to the call exchanges, the agency is also depending heavily on the Whatsapp messages recovered from Manoj Prasad’s phone, they claimed.

The CBI had registered a case against its own Special Director Rakesh Asthana of accepting bribe to settle a case of meat exporter Moin Qureshi, who is facing multiple cases of money laundering and corruption.

"An FIR was registered against Rakesh Asthana, Devender and two private persons, Manoj Prasad and Someshwar Prasad, on October 15 following a complaint by Sathish Babu Sana of Hyderabad," the CBI said.

The country's top probe agency alleged that bribes were taken at least five times in December 2017 and October 2018.

The CBI said it has statement of Satish Sana recorded under Section 164 Cr.PC twice on October 4 and October 20, which completely "corroborates" allegation against Asthana and others.

Sana, in his complaints, said he had been made to part with huge amount of money by CBI officials including Asthana and Devender, on the pretext of helping him in a case, wherein he has no involvement.

"I have made recordings of most of the WhatsApp messages and WhatsApp voice calls which I will produce as and when asked to do so," Sana, the complainant, said.

Someshwar, CBI alleged, handled Asthana's investments.

Asthana, a 1984 batch Indian Police Service officer of Gujarat cadre, is accused of accepting a bribe of ₹2 crore from a businessman who was under probe in the Qureshi case in order to "wreck" the investigation. The case was being examined by a special investigation team (SIT) headed by Asthana.

The CBI lodged the FIR on October 15 after the arrest of a middleman Manoj, who has given a confessional statement before a magistrate confirming the payment of ₹2 crore to Asthana.

Manoj has reportedly admitted that he had paid the bribe on behalf of Qureshi, who is being probed by the CBI and the Enforcement Directorate (ED) on charges of money laundering for a host of public servants. Qureshi was arrested by the ED in August last year under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act.

Apart from Asthana, the CBI has also named Samant Kumar Goel, Special Director of India's external intelligence agency RAW, but not an accused.

The latest move is another indication of the escalating internal war within the CBI's top officials, Verma and Asthana.

(with inputs from agencies)