CBI Row: Supreme Court Refuses Urgent Hearing in Officer Manish Kumar Sinha’s Plea on His Transfer to Nagpur

The bench reportedly said, "Nothing shocks us."

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Monday refused to give an urgent hearing to a mentioning by CBI officer Manish Kumar Sinha’s plea seeking to quash his transfer to Nagpur, reported ANI. (Also read: Arun Jaitley Hits Back at Chandrababu Naidu)

Sinha, who is part of the team investigating the case against PNB scam accused Nirav Modi, had sought urgent hearing along with exiled CBI chief Alok Verma’s plea on Tuesday. His lawyer reportedly told the court that he wanted to bring “shocking” facts to light, to which the bench headed by Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi replied, “Nothing shocks us”.

Sinha is also part of the team probing CBI Special Director Rakesh Asthana’s role in an alleged corruption case.  He has alleged that he was transferred to Nagpur and as a result has been taken out from the probe team investigating the FIR against Asthana. He has also sought an SIT probe in Asthana’s case.

The bench, also comprising Justices SK Kaul and KM Joseph, is now scheduled to hear on Tuesday the plea of Verma, challenging the government’s decision of divesting him of duties and sending him on leave.

The bench also comprising Justices S K Kaul and K M Joseph is scheduled to hear tomorrow the plea of CBI Director Alok Kumar Verma challenging the government’s decision of divesting him of duties and sending him on leave.

The CBI had booked Asthana on allegations of receiving a bribe from an accused probed by him in a case linked to meat exporter Moin Qureshi. Asthana was also divested of his duties and sent on leave by the Centre over the ongoing feud between the two senior CBI officers.

Meanwhile, Deputy SP Ashwini Kumar Gupta has also moved the Supreme Court alleging that he was repatriated to his parent Intelligence Bureau (IB) cadre as he was investigating various corruption charges against CBI Special Director Rakesh Asthana.

Gupta, in his plea, said he had joined the Intelligence Bureau in January 1999 and inducted on deputation to the CBI in July 2014, initially for three years, till June 2017.

Subsequently, he was granted a one-year extension in the CBI till June 2018 after a No Objection Certificate (NOC) from his parent department.