The ongoing CBI controversy took a spectacular turn on Thursday morning after the personal security staff of the sacked CBI chief Alok Verma arrested four men for snooping on him outside his official bungalow.
These four men were seen sitting in their car outside Verma’s house in New Delhi when the sacked CBI chief’s personal security staff spotted them. Suspicious of their activity, the security personnel immediately pounced on them.
Verma’s security staff recovered multiple mobile phones and identity cards of the intelligence department from them.
In the viral video, the two men could be seen being dragged by Verma’s security personnel, who later handed them over to the Delhi Police. The arrested men have reportedly confessed that they were from the IB, an intelligence branch that reports to the central government.
Before being appointed as the CBI director, Verma was the Delhi Police Commissioner.
This development assumes significance in light of Verma being sacked the Centre after he decided to take punitive action against his depiuty, Rakesh Asthana, who was considered to be very close to Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Asthana was accused of accepting Rs 2 crore bribe for a favourable settlement of a case against the meat exporter, Moin Qureshi.
The central government, in an extraordinary development on the intervening night of Tuesday and Wednesday, sacked both Verma and Asthana and sealed their offices at the CBI headquarters. Verma has moved the Supreme Court against what’s being termed as the midnight coup by the central government. The top court will hear his case on Friday.
Congress President Rahul Gandhi had linked Verma’s shocking removal to the Rafale scam. He had tweeted, “PM removed the CBI Director to stop him from investigating Rafale. Mr 56 broke the law when he bypassed CJI & LOP. Mr Modi, Rafale is a deadly aircraft with a superb radar. You can run, but you can’t hide from It.’
Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal too had asked, “Is there a co-relation between the Rafale deal and removal of Alok Verma? Was Alok Verma about to start investigations into Rafale, which cud become problem for Modi ji?”