Kharge writes to PM, calls for immediate meeting of 3 member panel to appoint new CBI director

New Delhi, Jan 15 (UNI) Terming the removal of Mr Alok Verma as CBI chief and appointment of Mr Nageshwar Rao as interim director as ‘illegal’, Leader of the Congress in the lok Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge has written a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi demanding to make public key documents related to the sacked CBI chief, including the Central Vigilance Commission report and the details of the Selection Committee meeting on January 10, sources said on Tuesday.

In his letter to the PM, Mr Kharge also said the government must call an immediate meeting of the three member Selection Committee to appoint a new director without delay.

In his letter to Mr Modi, Mr Kharge, who is member of the three member committee for the selection of the CBI chief, termed the action for his removal as ‘illegal’.

‘’The government seemed to be worried about something and in a tearing hurry to dispose a man from his office. An irrational decision was taken to transfer Alok Verma as Director general of Fire services even after his superannuation.

Both Mr Verma's removal and the appointment of an interim CBI chief are illegal,’’he said.

’’The actions of the government... indicate that it is scared of having the CBI headed by an independent director. The government should come clean by releasing these reports so the public can draw its own conclusion,’’Mr Kharge said.

Said Mr Kharge, who represented the opposition in the Selection Committee, in which the votes of PM Modi and Justice A K Sikri decided Alok Verma’s removal as CBI chief,’’ despite my best efforts to convince the members of the committee that we should be following the due process of law and the principles of natural justice, the members chose to take a decision based on the report that now stands disowned by Justice Patnaik.’’

Referring to reports that Justice Patnaik had said that the CVC report did not find any charge of corruption against Verma, Mr Kharge said,’’ the media had widely reported that Justice Patnaik had said there was no evidence of corruption against Verma.

Mr Kharge said that what the CVC says could not be the final word and in this context, termed the action of the committee as “very very hasty".

"Such huge embarrassment could have been avoided if the committee had decided to independently examine the report of the CVC, the report of Justice Patnaik, the submissions of Alok Verma in his defence and draw its own conclusions before reaching a decision," said Mr Kharge.

It is notable that in the meeting of the committee which decided to remove Mr Verma, Mr Kharge had given a dissenting note in which he cited the Vigilance report, which said there was no evidence of the main corruption allegations against Alok Verma.

That is the report he wants to be made public, along with one by Justice AK Patnaik, who monitored the vigilance probe.