New Delhi: The Congress on Saturday alleged that the Chief Vigilance Commission and the government were hand in glove in divesting CBI Director Alok Verma of his powers and termed it as a “sinister conspiracy to put a lid on investigation” into Rafale deal.
The opposition party questioned why CVC Commissioner K V Chowdary had “abruptly cancelled” his scheduled foreign tour to hold an urgent meet at night on October 23 on the matter and issued an “illegal” order against Verma.
There was no immediate reaction from the CVC and the Prime Minister’s Office on the Congress’ allegations.
Addressing a joint press conference with AICC general secretary Ashok Gehlot, AICC media in-charge Randeep Surjewala claimed there were layers of drama in the late night that day wherein “a fraud was played on the Constitution by Prime Minister Narendra Modi along with CVC, which was now out in the open”.
The government had divested powers of Verma and CBI’s Special Director Rakesh Asthana’s in the early hours of October 24, amid an ongoing spat between them.
The decision to remove the two was based on the CVC’s recommendations. “Chowdary was scheduled to go on a tour to Denmark on October 23 (Tuesday) in the evening.
He abruptly cancelled his tour and held a meeting of the Central Vigilance Commission at night,” Surjewala claimed.
On the same day around 11 pm, CBI’s Joint Director M Nageshwar Rao, was sent to CBI headquarter in anticipation of the CVC order, Surjewala claimed. Rao is now the interim chief of the CBI, but the apex court has barred him from taking any “policy” or “any major decision”.
Surjewala claimed that Delhi Police Commissioner Amulya Patnaik called his subordinates at around 11:30 pm to alert to them about an urgent midnight operation.
“At 12:00 am, Delhi Police Commissioner received instructions from National Security Advisor and briefed Delhi Police officers for taking over the CBI headquarters by Delhi Police,” he claimed. (PTI)
