Amidst the ongoing battle between two factions of the CBI, the government of the day, citing ongoing investigations, has sent both the officers involved Rakesh Asthana and Alok Verma on leave. But this has not gone down well with some of the known Modi Government detractors.
According to the SC lawyer Prashant Bhushan, the BJP government removed Alok Verma from his office as he was pursuing corruption charges on Special Director CBI Rakesh Asthana. Bhushan also alleged Asthana’s involvement in the Rafale deal was the reason for the government’s alacrity to protect him from Verma’s investigation.
Breaking! As feared&suspected, the govt has removed the Director CBI from his charge, because he was pursuing corrupt Spl Director Rakesh Asthana who was foisted on CBI by PMO despite his being investigated by the CBI itself in corruption cases.Totally illegal. Will be Challenged pic.twitter.com/KyZgEUBpyF
— Prashant Bhushan (@pbhushan1) October 24, 2018
Apart from protecting Asthana from investigation, the Rafale complaint by Shourie, Sinha & myself, entertained by the CBI Director, must be another reason for the Govt to remove him with such alacrity by this midnight order https://t.co/vKrR4a9God
— Prashant Bhushan (@pbhushan1) October 24, 2018
The government had already claimed that they have sent both the officers on leave. In the meanwhile, the government has appointed senior IPS officer M Nageshwar Rao, a joint director within the CBI to take over the duties and functions of CBI Director with immediate effect. This decision comes soon after it was reported that Asthana and Verma had both been summoned by the Prime Minister.
If this wasn’t enough, Prashant Bhushan has insinuated charges of corruption against M Nageshwar Rao and called him a tainted officer.
Immediately after illegally removing the Director CBI, Alok Verma & illegally appointing tainted officer Nageshwar Rao as acting Director, the entire ACB team particularly those investigating PMO’s blue eyed boy Asthana, are being replaced with alacrity! It is Modi’s CBI Gate pic.twitter.com/rDIRYUEw4R
— Prashant Bhushan (@pbhushan1) October 24, 2018
But this didn’t go down well with an aware Twitter user (@iAnkurSingh), who took it upon himself to out Prashant Bhushan’s shameless hypocrisy.
Prashant Bhushan went to SC agnst appointment of Alok Verma as CBI chief saying it’s ‘illegal’ and he was placed by Modi govt to protect the Corrupt.
Now when Alok Verma has been removed, Bhushan says it’s ‘illegal’ and Verma has been removed by Modi govt to protect the Corrupt. pic.twitter.com/Elg059emzB
— Ankur Singh (@iAnkurSingh) October 24, 2018
As outed by Ankur, it can be seen that Prashant Bhushan, in the past, had moved to the Supreme Court terming appointment of CBI Chief Alok Verma as ‘illegal’. The SC had then quashed Bhushan’s petition and refused to interfere in his appointment. Bhushan had also insinuated that Alok Verma was appointed by the Modi government to protect the corrupts.
Today, Prashant Bhushan is vehemently protesting against the government’s move of asking Alok Verma to proceed on leave. One cannot help but wonder what motivates Prashant Bhushan to take such diametrically opposite stance in just over 20 months. From calling Alok Verma’s appointment as ‘illegal’ to his ouster as ‘illegal’, Prashant Bhushan’s flip-flops have sent his followers in a tizzy. It also testifies that Bhushan’s only aim is to stop Modi, even if it comes at the cost of being exposed as a churlish hypocrite.
In the past too Prashant Bhushan has been accused of sharing fake news from dubious sources just to sustain his campaign against the Modi government. When the veracity of the news was outed, he quietly deleted his post without tendering an apology. This has become a pattern now. Prashant Bhushan has attempted to spread misinformation and half-baked allegations several times in the past. He had alleged recently that PM Modi had arranged for Mehul Choksi’s Antiguan citizenship. He had also circulated a ‘news clip’ that claimed that Mukesh Ambani led Reliance Jio has bought 30 crores phones from China and it is a big scam. Both his claims were wrong.
