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Supreme Court to hear Alok Verma’s plea today on midnight powershift in CBI
In his plea, Alok Verma accused the government of interfering with the independence and autonomy of the CBI, that divesting him of his powers “overnight” was “patently illegal”.
The Supreme Court will today hear a plea filed by Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) director Alok Kumar Verma seeking a stay on the post midnight order divesting of him of duty and sending him on leave after fresh controversy when four Intelligence Bureau men were caught outside his house Thursday.
As the opposition, particularly the Congress, attacked the Narendra Modi government over the leadership change in the agency, the CBI Thursday clarified that Verma continues to remain the director and Rakesh Asthana special director while joint director Nageshwar Rao will hold interim charge till the time Central Vigilance Commission (CVC) examines the allegations and counter allegations between the top two officials. (Follow up live updates here)
Ahead of its taking up Verma’s plea, the Supreme Court Thursday said it would consider according urgent hearing to a PIL by lawyer Prashant Bhushan, appearing for NGO ‘Common Cause, seeking court-monitored SIT probe into the allegations of corruption against various CBI officials, including Asthana.
In his plea, Verma has accused the government of interfering with the independence and autonomy of the premier institution, that divesting him of his powers “overnight” by the Department of Personnel and Training and the CVC was “patently illegal”, and also hinted that he was removed for investigating cases inconvenient to the government.
He also hit out at Asthana, who too was sent on leave along with the director, for posing hurdles in investigating cases.
Read | Boss trying to frame me, CBI No. 2 Rakesh Asthana tells court
Verma’s petition was mentioned by advocate Gopal Sankaranarayanan before a bench led by chief justice Gogoi on Wednesday morning. Investigating officers of sensitive cases are being changed, which may jeopardize a probe into many sensitive cases, he said. The court agreed with his request for an early hearing and listed the matter for Friday.
Meanwhile, Congress president Rahul Gandhi Thursday stepped up his attack on Prime Minister Modi over removal of the CBI chief, claiming the post-midnight decision was a panic reaction to the agency’s move to probe the Rafale fighter jet deal. He also alleged that the director’s room was sealed and incriminating documents that were with him were taken away and “that is why the work was done at 2 am, according to news agency ANI.
The Congress has questioned the legitimacy of Verma’s removal given that the CBI chief has a fixed two-year tenure and Verma’s term runs till January-end. In a letter to PM Modi earlier in the day, senior Congress leader Mallikarjun Kharge had also insisted that neither the government nor the CVC had the power to divest Verma of the director’s charge and appoint an interim director.
Gandhi said Verma’s removal from the post was not just an insult to the Constitution of India but also “illegal and criminal”.
The BJP promptly hit back, accusing him of spreading falsehoods.
“Congress has lost all hopes of becoming relevant and it has also lost patience. And therefore in their dreams also they are dreaming only about Rafale. It appears Rahulji is living in hallucination,” education minister Prakash Javadekar told reporters at the party headquarters.
Early on Thursday, four men were detained by Verma’s security guards from outside his Janpath house and identified themselves as Intelligence Bureau personnel. As opposition parties alleged they were snooping, a Union Home Ministry official said the men were on routine patrol duty in a high-security zone and had stopped to check why many people had gathered at the spot. “Unfortunately, their presence was projected otherwise,” he said.
