The Modi government on Monday appointed Gujarat cadre IPS officer of 1984 batch Rakesh Asthana as the Director General (DG) of the Border Security Force (BSF). He will also continue to hold the additional charge of the post of DG, Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB).
Mr. Asthana was earlier Special Director of the CBI where he had an open all-out fight with the then CBI Director Alok Verma, who had filed a bribery case against Mr. Asthana in 2018.
Following the fight between the top two officials in the top federal agency which is tasked with probing politically sensitive corruption cases, the Central government had removed them as per the order of the Central Vigilance Commission, which had acted to prevent tarnishing the image of the agency.
Later on, Mr Asthana was given a clean chit in the alleged bribery scandal.
On Monday, the Appointments Committee of the Cabinet (ACC) headed by PM Modi approved the appointment of Mr. Asthana along with the additional charge till July 31, 2021 — the date of his superannuation.
Presently, he is DG, Bureau of Civil Aviation Security (BCAS), after he was removed from the CBI in November 2018.
The government has also appointed 1986 batch IPS of Andhra Pradesh cadre VSK Kaumudi as Special Secretary (Internal Security) in the Ministry of Home Affairs. He has been shifted from the Bureau of Police Research & Development (BPR&D).
Jawed Akhtar, a 1986 batch U.P.-cadre IPS officer has been moved from special DG, CRPF, to DG, Fire Services, Civil Defence and Home Guard to fill the vacancy caused by the superannuation of Nageshwar Rao. Mr. Rao was earlier made interim Chief of the CBI when Mr. Verma and Mr. Asthana were shunted from the agency.
