Pti

New Delhi: 1986-batch IPS officer from the Odisha cadre, M Nageswara Rao, who is holding the post of interim CBI director, was on Tuesday promoted to the rank of additional director by the government.

Rao's name was cleared by the Appointments Committee of the union cabinet.

The promotion of Rao, who took over as interim CBI director amid a midnight drama on October 24, came after the centre's intervention in the public spat between CBI Director Alok Verma and Special Director Rakesh Asthana, which reached court.

The Supreme Court has asked Rao not to take any policy decisions until it hears the petition related to the feud between Verma and Asthana.

He affixed signatures on over dozen transfer orders, mainly of those officers who were probing Asthana, besides ordering search and sealing of CBI Director's office.

Rao who joined the CBI as a joint director in 2016 was not considered for the rank of additional director in November 2016 as well as when a review of this batch took place in April 2018.

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