CBI interim chief M Nageswara Rao, who's ordered by the Supreme Court not to take any policy decision, on Friday transferred CBI Joint Director V Murugesan from the unit probing special director Rakesh Asthana to the unit overseeing coal scam cases. But hours later, he reverted Murugesan to the Asthana case. “He has been divested of the responsibility of the unit probing the Asthana case. However, he will continue to supervise this particular case,” CBI spokesperson Abhishek Dayal said.

Apart from Murugesan, the CBI also transferred Joint Director Bhanu Bhaskar from Delhi to Patna. Bhaskar was heading the CBI academy and Patna Zone which is overseeing the Muzaffarpur shelter home abuse case.

Further, Joint Director Vineet Vinayak, looking after the anti-corruption wing, Delhi Zone, has been transferred. His charge has been given to Additional Director Praveen Sinha.

While CBI could argue that transfers were not part of the policy, there was ambiguity on whether transfers of joint directors handling key investigations would be counted as outside the ambit of policy.