Oppn leader: Changes in CBI to cover up Rafale

Chennai

Condemning the overnight change of guard at the helm of CBI, DMK president M K Stalin on Wednesday urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to immediately cancel the order and reinstate Alok Verma as the director.

Stalin alleged that the reshuffle at the top level of CBI was effected only to cover up the Rafale scam.

Referring to the complaint Verma had received in connection with the scam a few weeks ago, Stalin said the PM, who was angered by the receipt of the complaint, had abused power by shunting out Verma and appointing an IG level officer as director (in-charge).

Alleging that Verma has been opposing the appointment of CBI special director Rakesh Asthana from the beginning, the DMK president said the people of the nation have been led to doubt the intention behind the reshuffle.

Stating that it was an established practice to appoint the senior most DGP of the country as the CBI director and many additional directors were available in the agency, Stalin said that it was shocking that the government has appointed an IG level officer as director (in-charge) to cover up the Rafale scam.

“It is painful to note that the PM has attempted to destabilize an agency like CBI just because its director had collected a complaint against his government,” the Leader of Opposition said.

He further said the newly appointed CBI director (in-charge) was mired in controversies even during his stint as Joint director of CBI (South Zone). Referring to the Gutkha scam and the Highway projects scam, in which Chief Minister K Palaniswami is involved, Stalin said the ruling BJP has made the investigating agency its “caged parrot” by appointing a junior level officer as the CBI chief, that too when it was investigating several sensitive cases.