Alok Kumar Verma on Friday resigned from service, a day after he was removed as the CBI Director by the Prime Minister-led high-powered committee.

Mr. Verma refused to join as Director General of the Fire Services, Civil Defence and Home Guards, as per the orders issued by the government late on Thursday.

“The undersigned would have already superannuated as on July 31, 2017, and was only serving the government as Director, CBI, till January 31, 2019, as the same was a fixed tenure role. The undersigned is no longer Director, CBI, and has already crossed his superannuation age for DG Dire Services, Civil Defence & Home Guards. Accordingly, the undersigned may be deemed as superannuated with effect from today,” he said in a letter to Secretary, Department of Personnel & Training.

The Selection Committee had not provided him an opportunity to explain the details as recorded by the Central Vigilance Commission (CVC) before arriving at the decision. “Natural justice was scuttled and the entire process was turned upside down in ensuring that the undersigned is removed from the post of the Director CBI. The Selection Committee did not consider the fact that the entire CVC report is premised on charges alluded by a complainant who is presently under investigation by the CBI,” he said.

The CVC only forwarded a purportedly signed statement of the complainant, and the complainant never came before Justice (retired) A.K. Patnaik, who was supervising the inquiry as directed by the Supreme Court. “Also, Justice Patnaik has concluded that the findings/conclusions of the report are not his,” he said.

“The decisions made yesterday will not just be reflection on my functioning but will become a testimony on how the CBI as an institution will be treated by any government through the CVC, who is appointed by majority members of the ruling government. This is a moment for collective introspection, to state the least,” said Mr. Verma.

He said as a career bureaucrat, it was the idea of his integrity that had been the driving force for four decades in public service. “I have served the Indian Police Service with an unblemished record and have headed police forces in Andaman & Nicobar Islands, Puducherry, Mizoram, Delhi and also headed two organisations, Delhi Prisons and the CBI,” he added.