CBI’s Alok Verma challenges his transfer in Supreme Court, calls it illegal

Alluding to government interference in sensitive cases, CBI director Alok Verma, in a petition in Supreme Court, challenged the government order that divested him of all charges early on Wednesday, saying it was illegal and had bypassed a high-powered committee.

The bench headed by Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi said Verma’s plea would be taken up on October 26 after his counsel pressed for an urgent hearing on the order issued against him following an escalation of rift between the top officials at the agency over bribery charges. (Follow live updates here)

Taking note of the internal feud in the agency, the government in a 2.30am order on Wednesday divested Verma and his deputy Rakesh Asthana of all duties and appointed Nageshwar Rao as the interim chief.

In his petition, Verma argued that the shunting out violated law that provides for a fixed tenure of two years. He said the transfer of a CBI director has to be with the consent of the high powered committee. The order sending him on leave had bypassed the mandate of the committee.

Verma has asked for a stay of the order against him and says “the present action gives serious credence to the requirement that CBI be given independence from the DoPT, which seriously hinders the independent functioning of the agency”.

He also said that not all influence exerted by the government is explicit or in writing. “More often than not, it is tacit, and requires considerable courage to withstand it.”

He also accused Asthana of creating hurdles in decisions crucial to the progress of investigation in sensitive cases, some of them being monitored by SC and had ”concocted evidence to impugn Verma’s reputation”.

Verma also offered to furnish details of sensitive cases that led to his removal.

The CBI chief has also challenged the decision to appoint Rao as head of the probe agency.