india

Updated: Sep 26, 2019 01:45 IST

Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) officer Satish Dagar, who led the team probing corruption charges against former special director of CBI, Rakesh Asthana, has sought voluntary retirement from service (VRS), according to an official familiar with the development.

CBI superintendent of police Dagar, posted in anti-corruption 3 unit of the agency, has sought VRS on “personal grounds”, the official cited above said.

The development could delay the probe in the first information report (FIR), registered by sacked CBI director Alok Verma last year against Asthana in which it was alleged that latter took Rs 3 crore bribe from Hyderabad-based businessman Sathish Sana Babu. Sana Babu was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in July this year on the charge of money laundering.

The VRS request from Dagar has come at a time when CBI was supposed to file a status report in the Delhi high court, which had on May 31 given the agency four months time to finish the probe in the matter.

A second CBI official said requesting anonymity that the CBI director Rishi Kumar Shukla is yet to accept Dagar’s VRS request. Senior officers have urged Dagar to continue his service, but he has so far refused to stay anymore, saying he has worked long enough in the agency, the official added.

Asthana, currently posted as the chief of Bureau of Civil Aviation Security (BCAS) with additional charge of Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB), had sought the quashing of the FIR against him saying it was “fabricated” and meant to frame him. Asthana had alleged that Verma was indulging in corruption and was protecting some wrongdoers in the CBI.

Verma was removed from CBI director’s post on January 10 this year by a high-powered panel led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi after the Central Vigilance Commission (CVC) found some substance in the allegations of corruption against him.

Dagar could not be reached for comment.