Central Bureau of Investigation Director Alok Verma on Monday filed in the Supreme Court his response to the Central Vigilance Commission’s inquiry report on corruption allegations against him, The Indian Express reported.
Earlier in the day, the court had asked Verma to file his reply “as quickly as possible” after he sought more time, PTI reported. On Friday, the court had ordered that Verma be given a copy of the panel’s report and scheduled hearing the matter on Tuesday.
“We are not shifting the date,” a bench headed by Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi told Verma’s lawyer Gopal Sankaranarayanan. “You file as quickly as possible. We will have to read the response.”
The vigilance commission had submitted the report to the court in a sealed cover on November 12. The inquiry was conducted under the supervision of former Supreme Court judge AK Patnaik. Gogoi has said the report is a “mix” and “exhaustive”. The report was “complimentary on some charges, not-so-complimentary on some charges and very uncomplimentary on some charges,” the court had said.
Verma had moved the Supreme Court on October 24, hours after the government sent him and CBI Special Director Rakesh Asthana on leave. On October 15, the agency had named Asthana in a First Information Report in a bribery case. He was accused of accepting a Rs 2-crore bribe to scuttle an investigation into businessman Moin Qureshi, allegedly involved in multiple corruption cases. Asthana had claimed Verma was trying to falsely implicate him.
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