Govt Repatriates CBI DIG Gauba Supervising Rakesh Asthana Probe

CBI Special Director Rakesh Asthana. 

(Photo: Aroop Mishra/The Quint)

The Prime Minister-led Appointments Committee of the Cabinet on Wednesday, 10 July, prematurely curtailed the tenure of CBI Deputy Inspector General (DIG) Tarun Gauba. Gauba was supervising the probe against former Special Director Rakesh Asthana, and was repatriated to his state cadre of Uttar Pradesh.

In an official order, the government said, "Approval of the Appointments Committee of the Cabinet (ACC) is hereby conveyed for premature repatriation of Tarun Gauba, IPS (UP 2001) , DIG, CBI to his state cadre."

The CBI maintains that the officer was repatriated on his “personal request,” NDTV reported.

Nitin Wakankar, the Chief Information Officer of the CBI told ANI that Tarun Gauba’s tenure in CBI was up to October 2019, and that he has been selected for the prestigious Fulbright Scholarship beginning in August in the US.

“He will proceed for the scholarship from his state cadre,” Wakankar

Second Major Shift in Post by CBI

This is the second major shunting of an officer from the country’s premier investigating agency in last one week.

The government on 5 July removed CBI Additional Director M Nageswar Rao and posted him as Director General Fire Services, Civil Services and Home Guard.

Rao, a 1986-batch Odisha cadre Indian Police Service (IPS) officer, was first given charge as interim Director of the CBI after the government in October last year sent CBI Director Alok Verma on leave, divesting him of his powers along with Asthana following a bitter spat between them alleging each other's involvement in corruption.

Rao was again given the charge of the acting CBI chief on 11 February 2019, a day after Verma was removed from the post.

According to CBI sources, Gauba has handled the cases like Dera Sacha Sauda, Vyapam Scam. It was the team of Gauba that gave clean chit to former Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan in the Vyapam case in the state.

Gauba was awarded with the President's Police medal for Meritorious Services in 2017 for his investigation into Vyapam scam case.

(With inputs from IANS and PTI)