Former CBI boss Alok Verma was sacked as the chief of Central Bureau of Investigation earlier this month. The Home Ministry has decided to take action against him for not taking charge as Director General, Fire Services after he was sacked from the post of CBI chief.
All retirement benefits of Alok Verma will be put on hold and disciplinary proceedings will be initiated against him for not joining the new posting, said a senior official in the ministry as per NDTV.
Alok Verma quit a day after he was removed as CBI boss and also refused to take charge of Fire Services. Former CBI boss was sacked by a high-profile panel led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, which said as CBI chief, he had “not acted with the integrity expected of him”.
In the three-member panel, Justice AK Sikri – nominated by Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi who had recused himself – voted with PM Modi for Mr Verma’s removal. Congress’s Mallikarjun Kharge, representing the opposition, put up a dissenting note saying that the vigilance inquiry had not found evidence that Mr Verma was guilty of bribery.
Alok Verma was to retire on January 31. A senior minister said Alok Verma’s resignation will not be accepted until the investigation against him is completed.
“Natural justice was scuttled and the entire process was turned upside down in ensuring that the undersigned is removed from the post of the Director,” said Alok Verma after being sacked.
In October, Alok Verma had been sent on forced leave by the government in a midnight swoop in which officers of his team were transferred and an interim director took over. Alok Verma was removed just two days after the Supreme Court reinstated him as CBI chief.
Alok Verma challenged the decision in the Supreme Court, as only the PM-led selection panel could remove him. The court cancelled the government’s order but said the selection panel must decide on his status, based on his No. 2, special director Rakesh Asthana’s allegations of bribery against him.
The Alok Verma-led CBI booked Rakesh Asthana in a case of corruption. Rakesh Asthana, in turn, wrote to the government, accusing CBI chief Alok Verma of taking bribes. The high-powered panel will meet tomorrow to select a new CBI chief.
