Delhi Police Commissioner Rakesh Asthana.
New Delhi: A former officer at the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), Rakesh Asthana was appointed Delhi Police Commissioner three days before his retirement. The Union Home Ministry said that the extension in service is being granted "in the public interest".
Asthana is currently serving as the Director-General of the Border Security Force. He was ruled out of the race for the post of CBI Director two months ago because he was about to retire. A Supreme Court decision dictates that officers with less than six months left in service should not be considered for police chief posts, reported NDTV.
The Appointments Committee of Cabinet comprising PM Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah termed his posting as a special case.
The order from the Appointments Committee said that Asthana was getting an "inter cadre deputation" from the Gujarat cadre to AGMUT (from where Delhi Police chiefs are picked). It added that his service was being extended "initially for a period of one year beyond the date of his superannuation".
Rakesh Asthana is a 1984-batch IPS officer who joined CBI as Special Director after the BJP-led government came to power in 2014. Congress leader Rahul Gandhi called him "the PM's blue-eyed boy".
Then CBI chief Alok Verma had also opposed the appointment. Verma was removed from the post of CBI director by the Centre after he ordered an FIR against Asthana on corruption charges. Asthana also faced a long investigation into allegations of accepting bribes from fraud-accused pharma company Sterling Biotech, said the NDTV report.
The Pegasus project revealed both Alok Verma and Rakesh Asthana to be on the list of alleged targets of the spyware. A report by The Wire last week revealed that Alok Verma was put on the list hours after he sacked Asthana.
Asthana was removed from the CBI in 2018 and made the Director-General of Civil Aviation Security in January 2019. He got a clean chit in February 2020.
The outgoing police chief, Balaji Srivastava has given an additional charge a month ago after SN Srivastava retired. After SS Jog and Ajayraj Sharma, Rakesh Asthana is the third officer from other cadres to be given the top police post.