Making most of the crisis the government finds itself in the CBI saga, Congress president Rahul Gandhi on Thursday accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi of "illegally" removing CBI Director Alok Verma as the latter was going to begin a probe into the PM’s role in the Rafale deal.

" The entire country knows that the CBI was about to begin investigation into the role of the prime minister in the Rafale scam. That is why the CBI director was removed at 2 am. The Prime Minister was scared that once a CBI investigation into the case starts, he would be finished. In this sense, the PM's reaction was in panic," he said when asked about BJP's charge on how Gandhi knew about Verma's plan to order a probe into Rafale deal.

At a hurriedly called press conference, Gandhi claimed that the CBI

director’s removal was an “insult” to the Constitution, the Chief Justice of India and the Leader of the Opposition. The move was "illegal", he said adding that the CBI Director has been sent on indefinite leave. "The PM cannot remove him. Only the Chief Justice of India, Leader of Opposition and Prime Minister and appoint and remove him," he said.

"The PM has taken Rs 30,000 crore from the youth of the country and put it in the pocket” of a top industrialist,  the Congress president said. He was flanked by his party’s top brass which included Ahmed Patel, Ashok Gehlot, Anand Sharma and Mallikarjun Kharge.

Questioned about the four Intelligence Bureau officials caught outside t he CBI director’s residence, he said snooping was an advancement of the entire matter. "They snoop on everybody". Referring to Joint Director Nageswara Rao, the Congress President further said that the interim charge of the agency has been given a person who has cases against him so that the prime minister can control him.

The Congress chief also alleged that the Prime Minister was "burying evidence in the Rafale scam" as that is the reason why Verma was removed at 2 am and his room was sealed and incriminating documents seized and taken away.

Asked if the Congress would move court on the matter, Gandhi said, "Our duty as Opposition party is to bring the truth out in the open and inform the public" and claimed that the Congress was doing the job of the opposition party. On a query about the basis of his confidence on claims that the CBI was about to begin a Rafale probe he skirted the issue but claimed, "I know like everyone knows. Besides the question is not how I know this. The question is that the PM helped his friend Anil Ambani get Rs 30,000 crore in Rafale and that's corruption," said a PTI report.

The Congress chief recalled that the entire country knows that the Prime Minister has done "corruption" and everything goes to prove that the Prime Minister has put Rs 30,000 crore in the pocket of his friend Anil Ambani and robbed the nation. "You can run as much as you want, but will be caught at the end... I am telling you Narendra Modi will be caught. He can run today but the country and the opposition will get him tomorrow," said Gandhi, according to the PTI report.

The BJP retaliated by accusing the Congress of "manufacturing lies" and its president Rahul Gandhi of "hallucinating". Union minister and senior BJP leader Prakash Javadekar said the Congress has lost all hopes of becoming relevant in the national politics and also lost its patience and therefore, its president was busy manufacturing lies after lies. Javadekar claimed that the Congress president has been manufacturing lies over Rafale issue as the Congress could not get commission out of the deal and people are "appreciating" the action taken by the government in the CBI case.