CBI officer AK Bassi moves Supreme Court to challenge his transfer to Port Blair

New Delhi [India], Jan 21 (ANI): CBI officer AK Bassi on Monday moved the Supreme Court against his transfer to Port Blair, contending that he had been targeted for conducting a "fair" probe against former CBI Special Director Rakesh Asthana and others. 
In his petition, Bassi, a DSP in the CBI, said he fears the transfer is the “first step to implicate” him in “false criminal cases/departmental proceedings” for investigating the FIR against Asthana.
On October 24, Bassi was issued orders for a transfer to the capital of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, hours after Nageswara Rao was made the Interim Director of CBI following the government's decision to send the then Director Alok Verma and Asthana on leave in the wake of their fights.  
Verma, who resumed his post on January 9 after being reinstated by the Supreme Court, had immediately annulled Bassi's transfer.
However, on January 11, Verma was transferred out of CBI and Rao was again made the Interim Director. Subsequently, Bassi was again transferred to Port Blair. 
In his plea, Bassi said the move to transfer him is bad in law and deserves to be set aside.
He claimed that his transfer was pursuant to "a deep-rooted conspiracy, aimed at influencing the course of the investigation" against Asthana and further to "penalise" him for discharging his duties in a free and impartial manner in the investigation.
The petitioner does not claim, contend or seek any vested right to be a part of any investigation team that is probing the Asthana FIR or any other case investigated by the CBI, his plea said.
Bassi, in his petition, only assailed the impugned transfer order and further sought protection against victimization or discrimination.
The government last week also "curtailed" the tenure of Asthana. (ANI)