Days after being shunted out as the chief of Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), Alok Verma has fresh trouble up his sleeves. The Central Vigilance Commission (CVC) has asked the CBI to hand over documents related to six cases where Verma is accused of wrongdoing.
The CVC is looking into the role of Verma, the then CBI director, in these cases. These cases range from leaking internal documents, diluting look out circulars, protecting people involved in bank fraud, among others.
On January 10, a high-powered Select Committee, led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, decided that Verma should be removed as CBI director and be given charge of fire service.
The committee traditionally includes PM, Chief Justice of India (or his nominee) and the Leader of Opposition in Lok Saha (or leader of the single largest party).
Besides PM Modi, the committee that removed Verma included Justice AK Sikri (nominee of CJI Ranjan Gogoi) and Congress leader Malikarjun Kharge. Kharge was the lone dissenter as the committee voted 2:1 to oust Verma, who has been pleading innocence.
The CVC has asked the CBI to submit documents of the following six cases:
1) Documents of probe into the alleged leakage of internal CBI emails in the Nirav Modi case. In June 2018, the CBI had locked the room of the then joint director Rajiv Singh (who supervised the probe against Nirav Modi). Rajiv Singh was later transferred.
2) Dilution of Look out Circular (LoC) of C Sivasankaran in the Rs 600 crore IDBI Bank fraud case. The alleged dilution allowed Sivasankaran to leave the country. The LoC was diluted when the case was transferred to the anti-corruption unit in Delhi from Bengaluru. The investigating officer (IO) in Bengaluru had warned Alok Verma that Sivasankaran may flee the country if his LoC is diluted.
3) Documents related to the alleged dilution of LoC of Vijay Mallya in November 2015.
4) Additional Superintendent of Police (Lucknow) Sudhanshu Khare has alleged that Alok Verma refused to take up an investigation into the suicide of Uttar Pradesh ATS Additional SP Rajesh Sahni. Khare has alleged that Verma did this to "save" some officers of the Uttar Pradesh Police. The Yogi Adityanath government had recommended a CBI probe into Sahni's death but the CBI never took up the case.
5) There are allegations that the CBI protected some accused from prosecution in a scam in the National Rural Health Mission (NRHM) scam. The case number is RC9(A)/2015/SCB/LKO.
6) The CCVC has also asked the CBI to submit documents related to a bank fraud. The agency is accused of protecting Ranjit Singh and Abhishek Singh in a bank SBI fraud case in Lucknow.