India

Congress Leader Mallikarjun Kharge Requested Prime Minister Narendra Modi in a Letter

Ranveer Tanwar

Updated:16th Jan, 2019 at 10:15 AM

Congress leader Mallikarjun Kharge, in a letter, has requested Prime Minister Narendra Modi to release the minutes of the meeting which ousted Alok Verma from the CBI.

The high powered committee, which included PM Modi, Justice AK Sikri (nominated by the Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi) and Opposition leader Mallikarjun Kharge who voted in a 2-1 ratio and Alok Verma was voted out of the CBI.

Mallikarjun Kharge, in a letter, has said that "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."

He also demanded that the government come clean on the issues and make public the CVC report, Justice A K Patnaik's report and minutes of the January 10 meeting.

Rao's appointment as CBI interim chief is "illegal", the Congress leader wrote in the letter.

Barely two days after the Supreme Court reinstated him, Verma was Thursday last removed as CBI director by the high-powered committee headed by PM Modi on charges of corruption and dereliction of duty, in an unprecedented action in the central probe agency's 55-year history.

There were eight charges against Verma in the CVC report presented before the committee that also comprised Kharge and Justice A K Sikri, appointed by Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi as his nominee.