The Central Vigilance Commission (CVC) on Thursday examined benched CBI Director Alok Verma and special director Rakesh Asthana who were sent on “leave” following an open war between them and exchange  of serious charge of corruption between them.

Verma met CVC Commissioner KV Chowdhary and Vigilance Commissioner Sharad Kumar in the afternoon and stayed for about two hours. Verma denied the charges levelled against him by Asthana to the Commission, sources said.

Asthana was also examined by the CVC during the day in connection with the probe into his allegations against Verma.  Only one working day is left before the CVC submits its report to the Supreme Court on Monday in connection with the CBI vs CBI war.

The vigilance body has also examined the case files, including the one relating to the Moin Qureshi case, IRCTC scam involving former Bihar CM Lalu Prasad and a cattle smuggling case in which a senior BSF official was allegedly involved.

The CVC also examined Joint Director Sai Manohar who had submitted a “secret note” by Asthana alleging one Satish Sana had given a statement before the CBI that he had allegedly paid a bribe of `2 crore to Verma to get relief in the Moin case.

The Supreme Court on October 26 had directed that the CVC’s enquiry into the allegations against Verma would be conducted under the supervision of retired apex court judge AK Patnaik within a two-week deadline.

Asthana had through a letter on August 24 to the Cabinet Secretary levelled allegations against his boss Verma of meddling in high profile cases and corruption.

After a longstanding public feud, the Government through a midnight order on October 23 sent both Verma and Asthana on leave.

The Commission had recently examined some CBI officials probing crucial cases which figured in Asthana’s complaint of corruption against Verma. CBI personnel from the rank of inspector up to superintendent of police were called and their versions recorded before a senior CVC official.

The complainant against Asthana, Satish Sana on whose complaint an FIR was lodged against the CBI No 2 official was also examined by the CVC. Asthana had also alleged in his complaint against Verma that Sana had paid a bribe of `2 crore to CBI Director for getting relief in the Moin probe case, sources said. 

Verma had challenged before the SC the Government’s decision of divesting him of his duties and sending him on leave. The feud between Verma and Asthana escalated recently leading to registration of an FIR against the CBI Special Director and others including Deputy Superintendent of Police Devender Kumar on October 15.

Asthana was booked for allegedly receiving a bribe of `2 crore from Hyderabad-based businessman Satish Sana which was given through two middlemen Manoj Prasad and Somesh Prasad to sabotage the probe against meat exporter Moin. On August 24, Asthana, in his complaint to the Cabinet Secretary, had levelled allegations against Verma that he got a bribe of `2 crore from Sana to help him get some relief from questioning in the matter.