Congress President Rahul Gandhi on Thursday said the removal of Alok Verma as the director of the Central Bureau of Investigation was illegal and an insult to the Constitution. The Centre’s decision to send him on leave “at 2 am” was a panicked reaction as Prime Minister Narendra Modi was worried he would get caught for corruption, Gandhi claimed.
Late on Tuesday, the Centre had sent CBI Director Alok Verma and Special Director Rakesh Asthana on leave and appointed M Nageshwar Rao the interim director. Verma and Asthana had been locked in a tussle after they accused each other of accepting bribes. On October 15, the CBI filed a First Information report against Asthana in this regard.
Gandhi wondered why Verma was removed late at night and not in the morning. “Main reason for this was that the CBI was going to begin an investigation into the role of the prime minister in Rafale,” he claimed. On Wednesday too, he had alleged that the government made the decision to stop Verma from investigating the Rafale fighter jet deal with France.
On Thursday, Gandhi said the director of the investigative agency can be appointed or removed only by a committee comprising the prime minister, chief justice of India and the leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha. Not consulting the others to remove Verma as director is therefore an insult to the Constitution, to the chief justice, to the people of India, and is illegal and criminal, Gandhi said.
Gandhi also questioned the credentials of the interim CBI director, who he said had cases against him. He claimed Rao was given the charge of director so that the prime minister could control him and so that no inquiry can be conducted into the Rafale deal. He added that not only was Verma removed, but efforts were also made to suppress evidence by taking away important documents that were in his possession.
The prime minister has been quiet throughout the episode, Gandhi said. “I come before you [journalists], you ask me whatever questions you want,” he said. “Tell the PM to sit here and ask him some questions on Rafale, he will run away.”
Meanwhile, on Thursday, the CBI said that Verma and Asthana would remain in their positions, and Rao’s appointment as director was only an interim measure.
Union minister Prakash Javadekar accused Gandhi of “manufacturing lies” and said his linking of the government’s decision with the Rafale deal was “hallucination”, PTI reported. Javadekar said the country had never seen such “childish politics”.
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