PM-led panel to meet on Jan 24 to decide on new CBI director

New Delhi: A high-powered committee led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi will meet next week to decide on new CBI director, days after the controversial removal of Alok Verma created a huge political furore.

The meeting of the selection panel, which includes the Chief Justice of India and the Leader of the Opposition along with the Prime Minister, will take place on January 24.

The development comes a day after Congress leader Mallikarjun Kharge wrote to PM Modi asking him to make public the details of the key documents that led to the ouster of Alok Verma as CBI director.

It is not known if CJI Ranjan Gogoi will be a part of the meeting. He had earlier recused himself from the January 10 meeting -- where Alok Verma was removed as CBI chief -- as he was part of the Supreme Court bench that ordered the reinstatement of the officer.

Justice AK Sikri had replaced him on the panel and had cast the decisive vote on Verma’s removal.

The committee removed Verma on charges of corruption and dereliction of duty, based on a report by the Central Vigilance Commission. PM Modi and Justice Sikri voted in favour of Verma’s removal while Kharge put up a dissent note flagging how the main allegations against the ex-CBI boss were unsubstantiated.

On Tuesday, Kharge wrote to the Prime Minister asking him to come clean over the issue by releasing the CVC report, the report of Justice Patnaik and the minutes of the meeting held on January 10, 2019.

Verma, who was ordered to take charge as the Director General Fire Services, Civil Defence and Home Guard, had claimed that he was transferred on basis of "false, frivolous and unsubstantiated allegations" made by only one person who was inimical to him. The official, who was retiring on January 31, quit the day after the removal, refusing to take charge as the Chief of Fire Services.