Four officials including one probing Nirav Modi case get extension in CBI

Four senior officials, including the one looking into the the Punjab National Bank (PNB) fraud case, have been granted extension in the CBI.

The decision was taken in a recent meeting of a selection panel headed by Central Vigilance Commissioner K V Chowdary, officials said today.

The move assumes significance amidst reports of power tussle between Central Bureau of Investigation Director Alok Kumar Verma and the second senior-most officer Rakesh Asthana.

Those given extension include DIG of Banking, Security and Fraud Cell (BSFC), Mumbai C H Nagaraju, a 2003 batch IPS officer of Kerala cadre, investigating the PNB scam involving diamantaire Nirav Modi and his uncle Mehul  Choksi.

The tenure of Nagaraju has been extended from December 16 this year to June 30, 2019, an order issued by Personnel Ministry said.

His wife Harshita Attaluri, who is also posted in Mumbai heading the Anti-Corruption Branch of the CBI, has been given extension for the same period.

Besides them, Manish Kumar Sinha and Jasbir Singh have also been given extension. Sinha, who is working in the BSFC of the agency in Bengaluru, will have tenure till November 5, 2020, the order said.

Singh, a 2003 batch IPS officer of Nagaland cadre, who had successfully cracked the rape and murder case of a minor girl in Kotkhai, has been given tenure till July 31, 2020, it said.

A 16-year-old girl had gone missing after school hours on July 4 this year and her body was found in the forests of Kotkhai near Shimla in Himachal Pradesh After nearly nine months of intense probe and ruling out all possible suspects, the agency managed to arrest the perpetrator of the crime.

Four other officers have also been inducted as superintendent of police (SP) level in the CBI.

They are IPS officers Mohit Gupta, Mohd Suvez Haque and PSC Kalyan. Manoj Verma, an officer of he Central Reserve Police Force, has also been inducted in the CBI.

All of them have been inducted in the CBI for an initial period of four years, the Personnel Ministry said.

The Central Vigilance Commission (CVC) has recently also given the go-ahead for extending the tenure of some key officers in the premier investigating agency, including those who have worked closely in some high profile cases, as part of special director Rakesh Asthana's team.

The development had come days after the CBI wrote to the CVC saying that Asthana, a Gujarat cadre IPS officer, (and second senior-most officer) is not allowed to attend the panel's meeting in the absence of the agency's director Alok Verma, officials said.

The CBI director is an invitee to the panel headed by the CVC.