BISHESHWAR MISHRA / New Delhi
The Congress today termed the “removal” of CBI Director Alok Verma as “illegal” and alleged that it has been triggered by the Narendra Modi governments fear that its “dirty secrets” in the “Rafale scam” might pop out.
Reacting over the Centre’s decision to remove both the officers and instead appoint the agency’s joint director M. Nageshwar Rao as the head of CBI, Congress leader Randeep Surjewala said on Twitter, “Modi government buries the ‘last nail’ into the independence of CBI. Systematic dismantling and denigrating of CBI is now complete. Once a premier investigating agency, PM ensures that CBI’s integrity, credibility and reliability is ‘buried and dead’.”
The Congress in the past has on the attack, criticising the Modi government for using the CBI to dig up old cases against opposition leaders instead of letting the agency act independently. It said that the CBI had become a tool for the government to fulfill its political purposes.
“PM Modi seeks to achieve surreptitiously and clandestinely what he can’t do directly to sack the CBI director. Habitual and perpetual misuse of CBI by Modi government and BJP to tamper fair investigation of serious criminal cases is the reason for this unfathomable mess. PM Modi has demonstrated the true colour of his infamous ‘Modi Made Gujarat Model’ by this cloak-and-dagger mugging of CBI,” Surjewala said.
For the last few days, the CBI has been in the midst of unprecedented infighting between Verma and his deputy Rakesh Asthana, who has also been asked to go on leave.