Rakesh Asthana was the Commissioner of Police in Surat before he a became a special director in the CBI (Photo: Facebook/Rakesh Asthana)

A dark, empty screen cuts to a satellite shot of India. Various black-and-white montage shots of Indian life -- a woman walking home, a train steaming through the countryside, a cobbler working against the backdrop of a busy city life, and more -- follow.

Then, as the narrator talks about how "in this crowded world, a lot of people just pass by" and how "there are some special people who leave a mark", profile shots of some great men appear on the screen.

These include Sardar Vallabhai Patel, Subhash Chandra Bose, Swami Vivekananda and Tipu Sultan.

"This person is one of those special people whose every step has been towards a noble cause, who has set an example of determination and integrity while increasing the honour for his post," the narrator says as a police officer -- whose face remains hidden -- steps into the frame.

Rakesh Asthana is compared to Subash Chandra Bose in a video going viral on social media

This person, the narrator continues, is someone "jisne apne haathon par aaye hue har karyo ko kadi mehnat aur lagan se pura kiya, jisne apne kandho par suraksha ka zimma utha kar unhe imandari se nibhaya (who has carried out his duties with dedication and sincerity while taking on the responsibilities of security)".

This "great" man is "our beloved" Rakesh Asthana, the narrator grandly announces as the video fixes itself on that police officer's name tag.

It is now that Rakesh Asthana's face is revealed. The narrator spends the next minute and a half profiling Rakesh Asthana as various shots showing the officer busy at work and relaxing at home (there's even a shot of Asthana sitting on a swing in his garden with his wife) follow.

Tipu Sultan is among the men whose profile shots are seen in the video before Rakesh Asthana steps into the frame

Asthana is a "jaanbaaz (daring)" officer, the narrator proclaims before ending the video with a couplet: "Yun toh jahaan mein sabhi aate hai... jeene ke liye; zindagi woh hai jiss par zamaana fakr kare (People enter the world to lead a life, but a life truly lived is one at which society looks in awe and admiration)."

This is exactly what you will come across if you watch a three-minute video about Rakesh Asthana -- currently a special director in the Central Bureau of Investigation -- that is being widely shared on Twitter.

For the ones opting for pls send me.

Let the festivities begin with this smashing PR of #RakeshAsthana .. enjoy your day!!

No thain thain though !!

pic.twitter.com/Aiz3R0k4v5 shilpi tewari (@shilpitewari) October 23, 2018

The clip praising Asthana was first shared on Twitter early Tuesday (October 23) morning. Since then various accounts -- anonymous and otherwise -- have shared the video on the social media website.

What is the purpose of the clip being shared on social media? We do not know. Is Rakesh Asthana involved in either producing or spreading the video clip? Again, we do not know.

What we do know is that the video is being shared at a time when Rakesh Asthana is involved in a bitter, never-seen-before feud with his boss CBI director Alok Verma.

On October 15, the Central Bureau of Investigation filed a first information report (FIR) naming Rakesh Asthana as accused No. 1 in a bribery case. Asthana, incidentally, ranks just below Verma in the CBI hierarchy.

The CBI's FIR against its No. 2 officer is even more interesting because the allegations Asthana are the exact same allegations that were made against CBI chief Alok Verma. And, the man who made those allegations was Rakesh Asthana.

If you're confused, we won't blame you. Here in a nutshell is what exactly happened:

Rakesh Asthana, sometime in the past 2-3 months, wrote to the government and Chief Vigilance Commission alleging that Alok Verma was interfering in his work and that the CBI director was corrupt.

One of the allegations Asthana made was that Alok Verma had accepted a Rs 2-crore bribe from one Satish Sana to get relief in a case being probed by the CBI.

The Verma-led CBI has admitted that Satish Sana did pay that bribe. However, the CBI says, the bribe was of Rs 3 crore and that it was Rakesh Asthana who accepted the bribe.

So, this is what has been happening inside's India's premier investigating body. The unprecedented crisis (the CBI carried out raids at the CBI headquarters on Monday) is unlikely to get resolved anytime soon.

But what about the video that has been going viral on Twitter?

Well, turns out the video is at least four years old from a time when Rakesh Asthan was the Commissioner of Police in Surat.

According to an Indian Express report from September 2014, the video was made around the time Asthana was being considered for a deputation to the CBI (he ultimately became a CBI special director in 2017).

The video has been produced by Mehul Surti -- something which is evident in the original video from 2014. The video clip doing the rounds on Twitter today ends with a profile shot of Asthana sitting in his police commissioner's chair.

However, the original 2014 video ends with two credits: 'Mavjat Parents Association' and 'Mehul Surti Production'.

The original video ends with a credit line that is missing in the version being shared on Twitter right now (Photo: YouTube/IndianExpressOnline)

According to the 2014 Indian Express report, the clip is a shorter version of a video commissioned by the Mavjat Parents Association for an event where the group honoured 16 police officers. "We had made a five-and-half minute video of which we reserve all the rights. I have no idea how just this bit got leaked," Monaben Thakkar, the president of the association had told the Indian Express then.

IndiaToday.in reached out to both the CBI and Rakesh Asthana seeking comment on the video. Both refused to comment.

However, Asthana did speak to the Indian Express in 2014, acknowledging the video's existence and explaining that the video meant to motivate physically and mentally challenged children and not eulogise him. "I know about this video, but I don't know its purpose. Obviously it was not for my publicity," Rakesh Asthana had said.

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