Fear is rampaging through PM's mind: Rahul on Alok Verma's removal

Congress president Rahul Gandhi took a dig at Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday, alleging that fear is now "rampaging" through the latter's mind.

The remark came after CBI director Alok Verma was removed from the post on account of the "extremely serious nature of observations made by the CVC against him".

Taking to Twitter, Gandhi said, "Fear is now rampaging through Mr Modi's mind. He can't sleep. He stole 30,000Cr from the IAF and gave it to Anil Ambani. Sacking the CBI Chief Alok Verma twice in a row, clearly shows that he is now a prisoner of his own lies. Satyamev Jayate."

Rajasthan's Deputy Chief Minister Sachin Pilot opined that there is something murky going on in the government which needs to be investigated.

"There is something murky going on which needs to be investigated, the Congress party has already objected to it. There is something very suspicious about all this," Pilot told ANI.

Speaking on the same lines, Congress leader Priyanka Chaturvedi alleged that the decision to oust Verma has bypassed constitutional norms.

"Hurried decision shows desperation level to ensure he (Verma) gets out of the way as he was going to probe Rafale scam. In his dissent note, he (Kharge) has mentioned the loopholes in the manner in which constitutional norms were bypassed by the government," she claimed.

The decision to remove Verma was taken by the Selection Committee, headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and comprising Leader of Congress in Lok Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge. Chief Justice of India is also a member of the Committee but at today's meeting, he was represented by Justice A K Sikri, the senior most judge of the Supreme Court.

The committee was of the view that being the head of a very sensitive organisation, Verma was "not functioning with the integrity expected of him," according to sources.

The 1979-batch IPS officer was posted as DG, Fire Services, Civil Defence, and Home Guards, two days after he was reinstated as the CBI Director by the Supreme Court. His reinstatement had come about two-and-a-half months after being divested of his powers and sent on leave by the government.