Urban Mirror Correspondent
New Delhi, October 22: The Lok Gathbandhan Party (LGP) said with director CBI Alok Kumar Verma and special director Rakesh Asthana leveling serious charges against each other for taking bribes the credibility of the premier investigation agency has come to a low ebb and it can no longer be trusted by the people. The LGP said the tussle between the two has been going on well over a year but the NDA government has mysteriously maintained a stoic silence.
The spokesman of the party said here on Monday that charges of taking bribes in high profile criminal cases against each other by top officers has badly exposed the functioning of the agency and now registration of an FIR against Rakesh Asthana in bribery case has led to a serious situation but the government doesnot appear to be interested in solving the crisis. The spokesman said this unprecedented situation has pushed the CBI into a messy situation and the confidence of the people in its impartial investigation is unlikely to restored soon. The spokesman said the functioning of the agency was always clouded with the government exploiting it for settling political score with the opposition party leaders, but the fracas between the director and special director has pushed it to the point of no return. The spokesman said it seemed that the prevailing situation suited the NDA government, hence there is no effort to settle the issue. The spokesman said if the situation is to be normalised in the agency the government should take immediate corrective measures. The spokesman said if the bribery charges could be levelled at the top level the situation at the lower level in the agency could be gauged very well.
The spokesman said media report suggesting that Rakesh Asthana, who belongs to Guajrat IPS cadre, is close to PMO and hence appeared to have influenced the decision making in this connection which has also put a big question mark over the impartiality of the CBI, now sharply divided into two camps of officers. The spokesman said with war at the top the functioning has come to standstill and if the crisis allowed to persist the organisation would be irreparably damaged. The spokesman has thus demanded overhauling of the agency to restore the trust of the people into it.
