CBI vs CBI: A tale of two Biharis who have fallen out

Verma and Asthana are originally from Bihar. Both belong to the same caste of Kayasthas. As coincidence would have it, both studied history in college and both joined the Indian Police Service

CBI vs CBI: A tale of two Biharis who have fallen out
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Uttam Sengupta

Both of them are originally from Bihar. Both belong to the same caste of Kayasthas. As coincidence would have it, both studied history in college and both joined the Indian Police Service.

But there the similarities end. While Alok Verma joined the AGMUT cadre in 1979 and barring short stints in Mizoram and Puducherry, served mostly in Delhi for much of his 36 years in IPS, Rakesh Asthana joined the Gujarat cadre five years later in 1984 but went on deputation to the CBI and earned a reputation for being a good investigator.

While Verma never worked in the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) before becoming the director in 2017, Asthana as the CBI SP at Dhanbad and later as part of the team which investigated the fodder scam, earned his spurs before going back to his parent cadre.

But these similarities apart, the two officers are as dissimilar as chalk and cheese. Verma prefers to keep a low profile and little is known about his family members, likes and dislikes. Asthana is more ‘outgoing’ and is clearly not averse to promoting himself, judging by a viral promotional video on social media.

Apparently shot while he was the Police Commissioner at Surat, the video shows Asthana in uniform, taking a walk, getting into his staff car, acknowledging salutes at the office and presiding over meetings. As images of Sardar Patel and other freedom fighters stream past on the screen, he is also shown in casuals taking a walk with his wife on the lawn and looking at memorabilia in his residence. A fawning commentary in the background informs that he is no ordinary mortal but has served society and brought the crime rate in the city down. What kind of an officer allows such a promotional video to be made and circulated, his detractors ask.

UN Biswas, who retired as additional director, CBI and had led the team investigating the fodder scam, however believes that Rakesh Asthana was ‘incapable of dishonesty’ and was incorruptible when the Gujarat cadre officer worked under him. He hastened to add though that he had no personal knowledge of Asthana’s performance during the last 15 years in Gujarat.

As police commissioner at both Vadodara and at Surat, he inevitably had to deal with businessmen and their grievances. And while it is difficult to say at this point if he ever went out of his way to help them, some businessmen were clearly obliged enough to offer him ‘complimentary’ services.

As many as four five-star hotels and resorts in Vadodara apparently provided their facilities with their compliments when Asthana’s daughter got married in November. Those who attended the wedding and the reception kept talking about the lavish hospitality for a long time and exclaimed with knowing smiles why the wedding was not held, back inBihar. After all both the bride and the groom had roots in Bihar but friends, relatives and political leaders flew from Bihar to Vadodara to attend the wedding.

In Surat, old-timers recall, Asthana had an unusually long stint. Surat was considered a prize posting, a lucrative posting and favoured officers would be put through a musical chair to give way to others. But it spoke of the confidence Asthana enjoyed that he was allowed to stay for a long time in Surat.

CBI now claims that some of the arrangements for the wedding were made by Nitin and Chetan Sandesara and the Sterling Biotech Group owned by them. The wedding itself was held at a farmhouse of the Sandesaras and one of the brothers is said to have paid for the reception at Laxmivilas Palace Hotel. It is also alleged that Asthana’s son was employed for some years as an assistant manager by Sterling Biotech.

Tongues began to wag when the entire Sandesara family absconded earlier this year and left the country, allegedly after defrauding a consortium of banks led by Andhra Bank of Rs 5,363 crore. While the family is said to have moved back to Nigeria and Mauritius and although the CBI has belatedly contacted Interpol to track the fugitives, Asthana’s relations to the family has come under a cloud.

UN Biswas, who retired as additional director, CBI and had led the team investigating the fodder scam, however believes that Rakesh Asthana was ‘incapable of dishonesty’ and was incorruptible when the Gujarat cadre officer worked under him. He hastened to add though that he had no personal knowledge of Asthana’s performance during the last 15 years in Gujarat.

Ironically, Asthana had his schooling in Netarhat, a small hill station near Ranchi and in a Hindi medium public school, which took pride in building character and producing sterling citizens. The residential school set up by the Bihar Government in the fifties insisted on students washing their own plates and clothes, cleaning the toilet and making their own bed. Teachers in the school were given the rank of class one Gazetted officers and most of them had a Doctorate degree from abroad. Rakesh Asthana’s father was a teacher in the Netarhat Public School.

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