CBI spokesperson on the infighting and transfers: "The team probing Rakesh Asthana's case has been reconstituted for a fair, impartial and expeditious probe. We have put available best resources in the reconstituted team. There were searches and sealing any offices are totally untrue. Nothing has been sealed. CBI is working normally. It is work as usual in the CBI. "


Feuding CBI Director Alok Verma and Special Director Rakesh Asthana have been divested of their powers and sent on leave, capping overnight discussions that led to the agency's reins being handed to a joint director as an interim measure early Wednesday.


It is the first such case in the history of the investigating agency, sources said as Finance Minister Arun Jaitley told reporters that the government's decision to remove the CBI's two top officers was based on the Central Vigilance Commission's recommendations.


Joint Director M Nageswar Rao, a 1986-batch Odisha cadre IPS officer, was appointed to look after the "duties and functions" of the director with "immediate effect" as an "interim measure".


A late night order Tuesday from the Appointments Committee of the Cabinet led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi sent Verma and Asthana on leave.


On Tuesday evening, the CVC recommended after a meeting that Verma and Asthana be sent to leave and a Special Investigation Team be formed to probe the allegations against them.


A SIT will look into the charges and both officers will "sit out" the duration of the probe, Jaitley told reporters after a cabinet briefing, adding that they have been sent on leave as an interim measure.