January 14, 2019
Press Statement
The Polit Bureau of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) has issued the following statement:
The decision to remove the CBI Director, Alok Verma, from his post is an arbitrary and shocking step. It was based on a report prepared by the Central Vigilance Commission (CVC), which has since been shown to be weak on substantive proof about the allegations. The CVC report is based on the allegations made by CBI officer, Rakesh Asthana. Rakesh Asthana’s plea before the Delhi High Court to vacate ongoing investigations on allegations against him has been rejected and the court has directed that the enquiry be conducted within a timeframe. Clearly, Rakesh Asthana has been found by the judiciary as facing prima facie charges.
Justice (Retd.) A. K. Patnaik nominated by the Supreme Court to supervise the CVC enquiry on allegations against Alok Verma has publicly stated that the CVC enquiry found no evidence of corruption against Verma. Further he said that the findings of the CVC report are not his and, thus, distanced himself.
More revelations about the questionable role of CVC, K. V. Chaudhary, in advocating Asthana’s case with the then CBI Director have also come into the public domain. All these facts show that the decision of the Prime Minister-led committee to remove Alok Verma, violating the principle of natural justice by denying him the right to defend himself, is biased and motivated.
All these also confirm the suspicion that the Modi government was in an utmost hurry to remove Alok Verma in order to prevent probes into serious cases of corruption involving the highest political leadership and the Central government. These include Rafale scam and many other corruption scandals.
In the light of these revelations, the Polit Bureau of the CPI(M) demands that the CVC be removed from office immediately and an enquiry ordered into the manner in which he dealt with the then CBI Director Alok Verma.