The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on  Thursday said that Alok Verma will continue to remain CBI Director, Rakesh Asthana to remain Special Director.

The development comes after a row over the appointment of M Nageshwar Rao as the interim director of the investigating agency.

"Alok Verma will continue to remain CBI Director, Rakesh Asthana to remain Special Director. M Nageshwar Rao to look after duties and functions of the CBI Director in the interim period till the time CVC looks into the allegations," said the official spokesperson of the agency.

This comes even as Alok Verma has moved SC against his ouster, a case which will be heard on Friday. Earlier on Wednesday, Arun Jaitley justified government's decision saying they had to intervene to protect the integrity of the agency.

After a spell of the internal fighting in the premier investigating agency, the Centre divested Verma and Asthana from their roles and asked them to go on leave. The two officials were at loggerheads on several issues and accused each other of blocking investigation of important cases.

The CBI had recently filed an FIR against Asthana for allegedly accepting a bribe from a businessman, who was linked to Moin Akhtar Qureshi case. Asthana was heading the SIT that was probing Qureshi's case.

Amid this tug of war, Rao was appointed as the interim director of the CBI with immediate effect on Wednesday.

Meanwhile, the Congress has accused Modi and his government of resorting to 'snooping' on CBI Director Alok Verma to 'cover-up' the Rafale 'scam' after four men were found 'loitering' outside Verma's official residence and were being questioned by police.

Suffering from "Rafale-o-phobia", Prime Minister Narendra Modi is indulging in "snooping, surveillance and spying" of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), Leader of Congress in the Lok Sabha Mallikarjuna Kharge and senior leader Abhishek Singhvi said at a press conference.

There was no immediate reaction from the Prime Minister's Office on the allegations.

Kharge has also written to the prime minister raising objections over the removal of Verma.

Kharge and Singhvi alleged that the Intelligence Bureau was "snooping" on an "officer who was about to unravel the murky dealings in the Rafale scam".