NEW DELHI: Supreme Court judge Justice Navin Sinha has recused himself from hearing a petition challenging appointment of Gujarat cadre IPS officer Rakesh Asthana as a special director in CBI When the petition, filed by NGO Common Cause , came up for hearing before a bench of Justices Ranjan Gogoi and Navin Sinha, Justice Gogoi said his brother judge did not want to hear the case and directed that the petition be listed before another bench on November 17. Asthana , a 1984 batch IPS officer, has become the second-in-command in the central agency after CBI director Alok Verma. He had headed the state SIT that probed burning of Sabarmati Exp in Godhra in February 2002 and was associated with the probe into the fodder scam in Bihar.Challenging Asthana's promotion, the NGO alleged in its petition that the officer was himself under CBI scanner which is holding probe against some officers on the basis of information revealed in a diary allegedly containing names of officials bribed by a corporate group.

Source: Times of India November 13, 2017 22:41 UTC