Fear of Verma probing rafale behind sudden ouster: Rahul Gandhi

NEW DELHI: Congress president Rahul Gandhi on Thursday said the main reason for the ‘removal’ of Central Bureau of India (CBI) director Alok Verma was that the agency was going to begin a probe into the “role of Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the Rafale scam” and the alleged corruption in the fighter aircraft deal.

Union human resource development (HRD) minister Prakash Javadekar termed this a “lie” and said there “is no inquiry” by CBI into the Rafale deal.Gandhi’s reference could be to a complaint given to Alok Verma (who has now been divested of powers) on October 4 by lawyer and activist Prashant Bhushan and former Union minister Arun Shourie.

“The complaint was marked by Verma to the Anti-Corruption Headquarters branch that was functioning under joint director Arun Kumar Sharma till Wednesday. The branch was verifying the contents of the complaint to see whether it even warrants a preliminary enquiry,” said a government official familiar with the development.

Addressing a news conference at the party headquarters in Delhi soon after his return from a two-day election campaign in Rajasthan, Gandhi said Verma was “removed in panic” because he was going to begin a probe into the Rafale deal.

“And that would have been suicidal for Modi,” said Gandhi.

He was flanked by senior leaders Ashok Gehlot, Ahmed Patel, Mallikarjun Kharge, Randeep Singh Surjewala and Anand Sharma.

The Congress president later announced that he would lead a protest march outside the CBI headquarters at 11am on Friday. The march is part of a protest by Congress workers outside CBI offices across India.