CP Delhi Rakesh Asthana alleges 'personal vendetta' against him

Gujarat-cadre IPS officer Rakesh Asthana has claimed before the Delhi High Court that the plea challenging his appointment as Delhi police Commissioner is either personal vendetta or a proxy war under the cloak of public interest litigation. in his affidavit filed in the Delhi High Court, he said two organisations, namely Common Cause and Centre for Public Interest Litigations, are professional public interest litigants and exist only for filing litigations as the only way of public service. Asthana said that there is a malicious campaign propagated either through tweets or articles or shadow PILs against him.

He claimed that there is a sustained social media campaign against him which justifies his apprehension that the challenge to his appointment is the result of some vendetta being conducted at the behest of some undisclosed individual or rival interest to derail his career. He further added that as a part of this selective campaign, proceedings are being consistently filed against him by the two organisations, while outside court the people having control of the said organisations spearhead a malicious campaign against him."This has been regularly happening since I was appointed as Special Director in Central Bureau of Investigation," Mr Asthana said, in his affidavit filed through advocates Diksha Rai and Devanshi Singh.

The Centre had earlier justified the appointment of  Asthana as Delhi Police Commissioner and said that he was given charge because he had the exposure of complexities of governance and knowledge of nuances of broad canvas policing.The Centre urged the Delhi High Court to dismiss the petition as well as the Interlocutory Application challenging Asthana's appointment as Delhi Police commissioner with exemplary costs.