The State Congress on Friday held a demonstration in front of the Central Bureau of Investigation’s (CBI) office here as part of the party’s country-wide agitation against the Centre’s interference in the affairs of the nation’s premier investigating agency.
Party workers led by Odisha Pradesh Congress Committee (OPCC) president Niranjan Patnaik took out a rally and congregated before the CBI office in the State capital wearing black shirts as a mark of protest against the Narendra Modi-led Central Government for its undue meddling in the CBI affairs.
The members of the party raised slogans demanding reinstatement of Alok Verma as CBI Director and also sought an apology from PM Modi for tarnishing the image of the probe agency.
“Without taking approval from the Chief Justice of India (CJI) and Opposition leaders, the Modi Government has unethically removed Verma from the post of CBI Director. Not only that, the Centre has also diluted the powers of the Enforcement Directorate and the RBI. The move is a conspiracy by Modi to establish an autocratic form of Government,” Patnaik said.
In Odisha too, the investigations into the chit fund scams which were under the ambit of the CBI Deputy Director Rakesh Asthana, who was appointed as replacement of Alok Verma, could not be completed, thus suggesting that it was all stage-managed between the ruling-BJD, the Centre and the CBI, he added.