Kharge writes to PM Modi: Removal of CBI Chief Alok Verma is a “shameful move”

Slamming Modi government for the midnight removal of the former Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) Chief Alok Verma, leader of the Congress party in Lok Sabha, Mallikarjun Kharge said that neither the Central government has the authority to remove the CBI director nor does the Central Vigilance Commission (CVC) have the right to recommend one.

In a three-page open letter to the Prime Minister Modi who is the chairperson of the selection committee to appoint the CBI director, Kharge questioned the removal of the former CBI Chief Alok Verma, and blamed Modi government for the “blatant, brazen and beleaguered use of (investigative) agencies.”

“First, there are no visible grounds to transfer the Director. The only plausible explanation for this desperate and hasty move is an attempt to scuttle the ongoing investigations into the Special Director’s cases and other cases that might cause significant embarrassment to your government,” reads the letter written by Kharge.

“Second, that no one — neither you nor the CVC — enjoy the requisite authority to interfere with the Terms of Service vested in the Director,” the letter added.

Full text of Kharge’s letter can be read here:

Addressing media at the Congress headquarters, Kharge said perhaps Modi government was dreaming of Rafale scam and of their friends who have escaped the country with loans. “That’s why they took this decision overnight. They didn’t even consult us as a courtesy,” said Kharge.

“CBI is an institution, where PM is the Chairperson, Chief Justice of India (CJI) and I, as a leader of the single largest party are members. CBI Director was selected by this committee. If he was to be removed, the committee should hold a meeting and take decision,” pointed out Kharge.

The leader of the largest single party in Lok Sabha, concluded terming the removal of the CBI director as “illegal, mala fide” that “points to a sinister agenda to scuttle important investigations including into the Rafale deal. It seems less like a ‘clean-up’ as your cabinet colleagues are nervously asserting and strikingly more like a ‘cover-up’.”

“Is the PM trying to scare the dissenting voice of an officer and giving message of similar consequence to others? Or is the PMO scuttling the probe with the sole aim of preventing the truth of the reported corruption in the Rafale fighter jet purchase?” says the letter.