Divesting CBI director of powers is 'illegal': Congress leader tells SC

Mallikarjun Kharge said divesting Alok Verma of powers is a direct & concerted attempt to impede independent functioning of CBI director

Congress leader Mallikarjun Kharge on Saturday moved an intervention application in the Supreme Court against the "illegal" removal of CBI chief Alok Verma.

The application may come up before the court of the Chief Justice of India (CJI) on November 12 in Verma's petition challenging the government''s order divesting him of all charges and sending him on leave.

Kharge has pleaded that neither the government nor the Central Vigilance Commission (CVC) can curtail Verma's fix statutory tenure of two years.

He termed action against Verma as "completely illegal, arbitrary, punitive, and without jurisdiction" as only a 3member panel comprising the Prime Minister, himself and the CJI has powers to appoint or remove the CBI chief, who still had three months tenure to retire.

Kharge is a member of the selection panel in his capacity as the leader of the largest party in the Lok Sabha.

CBI chief Alok Verma and his No 2 Rakesh Asthana were divested of all charge in an order past midnight on October 23 on account of their internal feud and appointed Nageswara Rao as the interim chief.

Kharge''s petition comes amid the Congress charge that Verma was ousted from the post to stop him short of investigating the Rafale fight aircraft deal against Prime Minister Modi and Anil Ambani, who got the offset contract for servicing the aircraft, once delivered by its manufacturer Dassault Aviation.

Ambani has denied the charge that Dassault bought land near Nagpur for his company to take it on board as the offset partner. He regretted that he and his companies are being continually dragged into the political battle in view of the upcoming elections.

BAIL REFUSED: Meanwhile, special CBI judge Santosh Snehi Mann in the Patiala Courts here on Saturday rejected the bail application of alleged middleman Manoj Prasad, arrested in the bribery case against CBI special director Rakesh Asthana and sent to the judicial custody early this week after the CBI said he was no longer required for custodial interrogation. The judge said the bail cannot be granted at this stage when the probe is still on.

The CBI had on Friday opposed bail to him as he may tamper with the ongoing probe and even flee. The court had on Wednesday The Court has already set free CBI DSP Devender Kumar on Wednesday after the CBI did not oppose his bail application.

The Court on Saturday heard both sides and reserved its verdict. Manoj had sought bail on the ground that he was no longer required for the custodial interrogation as admitted by the CBI itself early this week and so no purpose will be served by keeping him in further custody.