Chennai: DMK chief M.K. Stalin reacted strongly to the Centre’s Wednesday appointment of Nageshwar Rao as the interim chief of the CBI, which has been at loggerheads over a bribery scandal, wondering if the move was to ‘cover up’ the Rafale deal, gutka scam and the case against Chief Minister Edappadi K. Palaniswami. The move, he claimed would make the CBI remain a “caged parrot” of the BJP government
“Is this move initiated to cover up Rafale scam investigations? This shows an undeclared emergency has been imposed in our country. Appointment of controversial officer like Nageshwar Rao is nothing but to ensure that CBI remains the caged parrot of the BJP government. Nageshwar Rao met OPS (Deputy Chief Minister O. Panneerselvam) at the State secretariat. When CBI is investigating gutka scam & MHC (Madras high court) has ordered an investigation against EPS (CM Edappadi K. Palaniswami) for awarding contracts to his relatives, the move to send CBI director Alok Verma has raised suspicions,” he said.
Mr Stalin alleged that there were several complaints against interim chief Nageshwar Rao and that there are reports that the CBI director Alok Verma wanted to initiate investigations into allegations against him.
CBI director Alok Verma and special director Rakesh Asthana have been “divested of all powers” amid an ongoing spat between them, sources said, calling it the first such case in the history of India’s premier investigating agency. Following the sequence over the corruption allegations over Alok Verma’s deputy and special director Rakesh Asthana, the case has now been dragged to the court. Alok Verma today approached the Supreme Court against the decision to remove him from the post and sending him on leave.
Sending Alok Verma on leave amidst his spat with Rakesh Asthana was not just “autocratic,” but also showed the BJP government’s “administrative anarchy,” Mr Stalin alleged in a statement here.
Joint director M. Nageswar Rao, a 1986-batch Odisha cadre IPS officer, has been appointed to look after the “duties and functions” of the director with “immediate effect” as an “interim measure.”
Congress chief Rahul Gandhi also alleged that Verma was forcibly sent on leave as he was collecting documents relating to the Rafale fighter jet ‘scam.’ The action against Verma, Stalin said, comes at a time when he had reportedly initiated a probe into the Rafale deal,
where the Opposition, led by the Congress, alleged a scam in the purchase of the French made fighter aircraft.
“Reports suggest he had ordered a preliminary enquiry into the Rafale deal. The Prime Minister, who was angered by this, has used the opportunity to appoint IG level official Rao as director and this is misuse of authority,” Mr. Stalin said. He also referred to the Madras high court order directing a CBI probe into the alleged irregularities against Mr. Palaniswami in awarding road contracts.
There was a perception among the public that the Centre’s actions were seen more to ‘conceal’ the Rafale issue rather than protecting Asthana. “Verma was always opposed to the ‘forceful imposition of Asthana into the CBI by Prime Minister Narendra Modi,” he said, and condemned the action against Verma.
The PM’s actions created an impression of an “undeclared emergency,” Stalin said and added that Rao had earlier courted controversy when he had met then Chief Minister O. Panneerselvam in his office during his stint here. The CBI was presently handling sensitive cases and hence required a director with “impeccable integrity. But by appointing a junior officer, the BJP government has made the CBI its caged parrot,” he said.
“It is unacceptable to see a war being declared against CBI’s independence, credibility and autonomy,” he said and called for revoking of the action against Verma.
