The central government has ordered the removal of CBI special director Rakesh Asthana, from the top investigation agency. It was less than a week before that his chief Alok Verma was removed from his CBI director role, followed by his resignation from service after being offered fire services chief post.

There have been controversies regarding the presence of Rakesh Asthana for quite some time, with allegations levelled against him including bribery cases, and now, the central government has ousted him from the agency besides removal of two more members of his team Manish Sinha and AK Sharma. It has been said that these actions are being taken for the appointment of the new CBI director.

With the tenure at CBI usually being 7 years, Asthana has been removed much early, and this has come months after Alok Verma had filed a case against Asthana on charges of bribery, followed by Asthana accusing Verma of the same. With the PM intervention, both the officers were sent on a forced leave, following which Verma was ousted last week. A panel lead by PM Narendra Modi for the appointment of the new CBI chief will meet on January 24.