Supreme Court Seeks Verma’s Response on CVC Report
The Supreme Court of India on Friday handed over the contents of the Central Vigilance Commission (CVC) report to the director of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) Alok Verma and has sought his response within two weeks. The bench headed by Chief Justice of India, Ranjan Gogoi, dismissed the CBI special director, Rakesh Asthana’s plea to have access to the report.
On October 15, the CBI had registered a First Information Report (FIR) against the special director Rakesh Asthana for accepting bribes. The FIR accused Asthana of accepting bribes of Rs. 2 crore from the meat businessman, Moin Qureshi, for ‘settling’ a money laundering case against him. Asthana on the otherhand, had raised counter allegations that Verma had knowingly hampered the investigation into the IRCTC scam which involved the then Railway Minister andRashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) leader Lalu Prasad Yadav and his family.
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The matter turned uglier on October 23, when the Union Government through a departure from legally established procedure divested Verma of all his powers and duties as CBI director and transferred him to Port Blair. The government sent Asthana on leave and appointed M Nageshwar Rao in charge of the CBI.Verma challenged the government’s order in the Supreme Court the next day and alleged that the investigating officers in sensitive cases were being changed.
On October 26, the Supreme Court passed Orders to the effect that M Nageshwar Rao would not be allowed to make major decisions while heading the CBI and would only oversee the day to day functioning of the CBI. The Apex Court also directed Rao to submit a list of all the decisions taken by him between October 23 and October 26 in a sealed cover by November 12. In the meantime, the Court directed that the CVC investigation into Alok Verma should be completed within two weeks of the Order and that the investigation would be supervised by a retired Judge of the Supreme Court, Justice AK Patnaik.
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On November 3, Congress leader Mallikarjun Kharge filed a petition in the Supreme Court seeking for the Union Government’s notification of October 23, against Verma should be quashed for failing to adhere to the laid down procedure.
The political opposition has sought to draw a link between the CBI tussle and the Rafale deal. On October 4, Prashant Bhushan, Arun Shourie and Yashwant Sinha had written a complaint to the CBI seeking an investigation into the Rafale deal. It was 19 days after the complaint was sent to the CBI that the director, Alok Verma was transferred.
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