The Congress staged a protest outside the CBI office in West Bengal on Tuesday over the ongoing power tussle in the probe agency and accused the Centre of converting it into a "political tool" against the Opposition.
Carrying placards against Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the protesters gathered outside the office in Salt Lake town, neighbouring Kolkata, and shouted slogans: "Gali gali mein shor hain, desh ka chowkidar chor hain" (People in every lane are shouting that the country's watchman is a thief).
One of the protesters was seen carrying a placard depicting the Central Bureau of Investigation in a cage.
State Congress president Somen Mitra said the decision to send CBI director Alok Verma on leave and subsequent transfer of several officials would lead to the common people losing faith on the premier investigating agency.
"The CBI is handling two important cases related to Bengal -- the Saradha chit-fund scam case and the Narada scam. If there is a chaos in the CBI, it will help the corrupt leaders associated with the scam who are being investigated by the agency," he said.
The Modi government has systematically subverted all institutions, he said, adding its efforts to protect the corrupt and make the CBI its "political instrument" must be defeated.
This tendency to control every institution to serve the BJP's political purpose has led to the chaos in the CBI, he added.
(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)