NEW DELHI: You have heard of Supreme Court hearings, coups and installation of chief ministers around midnight. But, change of guard at a central agency in the middle of the night?
There was high drama as police cordoned off the CBI headquarters at around 12.45 am and Joint Director M Nageshwar Rao entered the building an hour later to take over as interim chief of the agency.
The development comes in the wake of the spat between CBI Director Alok Verma and Special Director Rakesh Asthana threatening to erode the credibility of the premier investigative agency. Both the officers have been sent on leave.
Such a shake-up is unprecedented in the CBI’s 55-year history. The push came from the recommendation of the Central Vigilance Commission, headed by K V Chowdary, recommended that both Verma and Asthana be sent on leave and a special investigation team formed to probe the corruption allegations against the two officials. The CVC also said that Verma had not been cooperating with the Commission’s directions and created ‘wilful obstructions’ in its functioning.In cases of corruption, the CVC has superintendence over the CBI.
Soon after taking charge, Rao transferred officers probing the bribery case against Asthana and those reportedly close to Verma. Verma fought back, moving the Supreme Court against Rao’s appointment. The SC will hear it on Friday. In his petition, Verma sought CBI’s independence from the Department of Personnel and Training. He also claimed Asthana was maligning his reputation.
The petition added that the CBI was expected to function independently and autonomously and there was bound to be occasions when certain investigations do not take the directions that are desirable to the government.
Finance Minister Arun Jaitley defended the government’s action saying it had to be done to maintain the integrity of the agency. He said the allegations levelled by the two CBI officers against each other had led to a bizarre situation. “A special investigation team will probe the charges and both persons will sit out as an interim measure.”
The developments kicked up a political storm with Congress president Rahul Gandhi alleging the Prime Minister “broke the law” and “bypassed” the Chief Justice of India and the Leader of Opposition, who were part of the panel that selected the CBI chief. “PM removed the CBI Director to stop him from investigating Rafale,” he tweeted.
Notably, BJP MP Subramanian Swamy also reacted sharply to the developments. In a series of tweets on Wednesday, he claimed those involved in the “CBI massacre” would soon suspend Enforcement Directorate official Rajeshwar Singh, who is probing the corruption cases allegedly involving P Chidambaram.
“The players in the CBI massacre are about to suspend ED’s Rajeshwar so that he cannot file the chargesheet against PC. If so, I will have no reason to fight the corrupt since my govt is hell bent on protecting them. I shall then withdraw from all the corruption cases I have filed,” he tweeted.
Meanwhile, former Union ministers Yashwant Sinha and Arun Shourie and activist lawyer Prashant Bhushan moved the Supreme Court seeking registration of an FIR into the Rafale deal alleging “criminal misconduct” by high public functionaries.
