No solid graft proof against Alok Verma: Justice Patnaik

NEW DELHI: Retired Supreme Court judge Justice AK Patnaik, who supervised the CVC probe into alleged corruption charges against then CBI director AK Verma, on Sunday said he was surprised by the speed with which the selection committee went through the voluminous CVC report in less than 24 hours and took a decision to remove Verma from the post.

Speaking to TOI, Justice Patnaik said, "The CVC report along with annexures ran to more than 1,000 pages. I am surprised the selection committee members could go through all the 1,000 pages in such a short period of time, appreciate the evidence and take the decision that Verma should be shunted out from the CBI director's post. It would have been better had the selection committee taken a little more time to appreciate the evidence and taken an informed decision."

The selection committee comprises PM Modi, leader of Congress in Lok Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge and SC judge Justice AK Sikri. While the PM and Justice Sikri were of the view that the evidence in the CVC report was enough to divest Verma of the CBI director post, Kharge had dissented.

Asked whether the principle of natural justice was followed when the CVC inquired into various charges against Verma, Justice Patnaik said, "Principle of natural justice was fully followed during the CVC inquiry against Verma. As the supervisor appointed by the Supreme Court, it was my job to ensure that the principle of natural justice was scrupulously adhered to."

Asked whether Verma got a raw deal, Justice Patnaik said, "After all, there was no substantiating evidence to back corruption charges. There was no evidence regarding Rs 2 crore bribe. The evidence which was recorded before the CVC in my supervision did not substantiate any corruption charge. So it would have been better had the committee appreciated the evidence by going through the documents minutely."