The internal tussle unfolding within the sanctum of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), which sees the top two officers of the agency – CBI Director Alok Verma and Special Director Rakesh Asthana – pitted against each other, has nuanced undertones of the Centre’s interference.

The biggest development in the ongoing crisis has been the Centre-initiated ‘order of leave’ forced upon the two officials – particularly against CBI Director Verma, which has been seen as a case of the Modi government’s high-handedness, done in an alleged bid to shield the government’s ‘blue-eyed boy’ Rakesh Asthana aka the No 2 in the agency from investigation.

In light of these developments, we take a look at instances in the recent past where the Modi government has adapted a brazen ‘do as you may’ attitude, superseding norms and bending rules to seemingly benefit its own agenda.