CBI gives Rakesh Asthana clean chit in corruption case
CBI concludes that there was no evidence which showed that Asthana had ever demanded or paid any bribe to save Sathish Sana in the Moin Qureshi caseThe agency had on 15 Oct 2018 registered a case of criminal conspiracy and corruption against Asthana
NEW DELHI : The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has given a clean chit to its former special director Rakesh Asthana in a case of alleged corruption.
Asthana was involved in a bitter public feud with then CBI director Alok Verma who was removed from the post last year. CBI had on 15 October 2018 registered a case of criminal conspiracy and corruption against Asthana. In its FIR, based on a complaint by Sathish Sana who claimed that Asthana had received a ₹3 crore bribe from him, the agency accused him of criminal conspiracy and corruption. Sana was a key witness in the case where the CBI is probing money-laundering charges against controversial Hyderabad-based exporter Moin Qureshi. On Tuesday, the agency exonerated Asthana and serving R&AW chief Samant Goel (who had also been named by then CBI director Alok Verma in the same FIR), concluding that there was no evidence which showed that Asthana had ever demanded or paid any bribe to save Sana in the Moin Qureshi case. CBI in 2018 alleged that Asthana “received illegal gratification through private persons Manoj and Somesh Prasad for giving relief in the case. Satish Sana is one of the witnesses in a case pertaining to Moin Qureshi. The case against the public servants (Asthana and others) relates to transactions beginning in December 2017".
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