The abrupt removal of CBI Director Alok Verma led to sharp political reactions on Wednesday, with Communist Party of India (Marxist) general secretary Sitaram Yechury accusing the Centre of trying to cover up “direct links” between the top leadership and Special Director Rakesh Asthana.
“The illegal removal of CBI Chief by Modi government to protect their own hand-picked officer, against whom serious charges of corruption are being investigated, points to attempts at a serious cover-up to protect his direct links to the BJP’s top political leadership,” Mr. Yechury tweeted.
“To ensure that the CBI is not a “caged parrot”, Supreme Court had granted protection to the Chief from govt’s whims and fancies by giving him a two-year tenure. What is Modi govt trying to hide by its panic move? #BJP corruption,” Mr. Yechury tweeted, adding “A midnight coup by Modi in CBI to protect himself and conceal his mega corruption in the Rafale deal.”
The Congress termed the move an “illegal and unconstitutional coup” and contended that the Central Vigilance Commission (CVC) had no power to recommend Mr. Verma’s removal.
SC ruling flouted: Cong.
Addressing a press conference, senior lawyer and Congress spokesperson Abhishek Manu Singhvi said the move not only violated the Lokpal Act that dealt with the appointment of the CBI Director but also the Supreme Court ruling in an earlier case.
Mr. Singhvi said that since the Lokpal Act mandates that the CBI Director be chosen by a committee comprising the Prime Minister, Chief Justice of India and the Leader of the Opposition or the largest Opposition party in the Lok Sabha, the same procedure ought to have been followed for his removal. “The government post midnight takes the decision and now puts the onus on the CVC. But was the Leader of Opposition or the CJI called? Moreover, it is also in gross violation of the Supreme Court judgment in the Vineet Narain case wherein a tenure of a minimum of two years was fixed for the CBI Director,” he said.
Rashtriya Janata Dal leader Tejashwi Yadav tweeted, “Central BJP Intruders (CBI) have virtually taken over Caged Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to save Corrupt Brokers of India (CBI) through it’s Criminal Barter Interrogation (CBI) by its Crooked Bureaucrats of Incompetence (CBI).”
BJP ally Janata Dal (United) took a cautious position.
“We have seen what happened under the tenures of former directors A.P. Singh and Ranjit Sinha, as well as the face-off between the CBI and the Intelligence Bureau in the past. The mistake of the government was that it was aware that this cold war was brewing and should have intervened earlier,” JD (U) leader K.C. Tyagi said.
(With inputs from
Sandeep Phukan)