Rewind 2018: CBI 1 versus CBI 2

The infighting in the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) isn't a big secret. The two main characters in the story are CBI Director Alok Verma and his deputy Rakesh Asthana. Both were little known officers up until July 2018. What started as an ego tussle blew out when Verma, a 1979-batch UT cadre officer, told the Central Vigilance Commission (CVC) that special director Asthana, a 1984-batch Gujarat cadre officer, was not authorised to represent him in the search committee meetings. Pretty soon by October, the CBI had registered an FIR against Asthana. 

The government didn't waste a lot of time and got involved by the night of October 23 and appointed M Nageshwar Rao as Interim Director of the premier investigating agency. Both Alok Verma and Rakesh Asthana were sent on forced leave. Rao did what he was asked to do by the government. He made some strategic transfers, and shuffled officers and assigned them new tasks. All this didn't stop both Verma and Asthana from sitting quietly. Both moved the apex court, which in turn ordered the CVC, Verma and Asthana to submit their replies in sealed envelopes.