In night op, CBI loses heads Director goes to top court, alleges Centre ‘interfering’
Both Verma, Asthana removed; mass transfers in ‘public interest’
NEW DELHI: In an unexpectedly swift predawn move to end a potentially destructive internecine war in the country’s premier investigating agency, the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government removed the two principals of CBI, director Alok Kumar Verma and special director Rakesh Asthana, an order immediately challenged by Verma in the apex court, which will hear the appeal on Friday.
The government asked M Nageswar Rao, a 1986-batch Orissa cadre officer and the senior-most joint director of the Central Bureau of Investigation, to look after the duties and functions of the CBI director. Rao, officials familiar with the development said, reached the CBI headquarters at around 11pm on Tuesday and left at 2am on Wednesday after receiving the order in a shakeup of the investigative agency’s ranks.
As Wednesday drew to a close, uncertainty remained over the legitimacy of Verrma’s removal given that the CBI chief has a fixed two-year tenure and Verma’s term runs till Januaryend. Congress party president Rahul Gandhi slammed the government, claiming that the Prime Minister “broke the law” and “bypassed” the Chief Justice of India and the Leader of the Opposition, who were part of the panel that selected the CBI chief.
The order divesting Verma and Asthana of their roles was served to them at their homes at around 2.30am. The government acted within hours of their bitter feud, which became public in October 2017, reaching the courts, with Asthana, who had been stripped by Verma of all his functions, seeking protection from arrest. NEW DELHI: CBI director Alok Kumar Verma has accused the government of interfering with the independence and autonomy of the premier institution, told the Supreme Court that divesting him of his powers “overnight” by the Department of Personnel and Training (DOPT) and the Central Vigilance Commission (CVC) was “patently illegal”, and also hinted that he was removed for investigating cases inconvenient to the government.
He also hit out at the agency’s special director Rakesh Asthana (whom he didn’t name), who too was sent on leave along with the director, for posing hurdles in investigating cases.
Verma’s petition was mentioned by advocate Gopal Sankaranarayanan before a bench led by chief justice Ranjan Gogoi on Wednesday morning. Investigating officers of sensitive cases are being changed, which may jeopardize a probe into many sensitive cases, he said. The court agreed with his request for an early hearing and listed the matter for Friday.