Mr. Kharge also asked the Prime Minister to convene a meeting of the Selection Committee immediately, and called appointment of M. Nageshwar Rao as Interim Director “illegal”.

Leader of the Congress in the Lok Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge has asked Prime Minister Narendra Modi to release the Central Vigilance Commission report against former CBI chief Alok Verma along with minutes of the January 10 meeting of the High-Powered Committee that transferred Mr. Verma out of the CBI.

Mr. Kharge also asked the Prime Minister to convene a meeting of the Selection Committee immediately, and called appointment of M. Nageshwar Rao as Interim Director “illegal”.

“The actions of this government indicate that it is scared of having the CBI headed by an independent Director. The government should come clean on the CVC report, the report of Justice Patnaik and the minutes of the meeting held on 10th January, so that public can draw their own conclusions in this matter,” Mr. Kharge said.

His letter, dated January 14, says that despite best efforts by the Opposition leader to ensure the principles of natural justice and the due process of law. “Members chose to take a decision based on a report that now stands disowned by Justice Patnaik [A K Patnaik] who was asked by the Supreme Court to monitor the CVC’s inquiry,” he said.

Citing media reports where Justice Patnaik called Mr. Verma’s removal as a very very hasty decision, the Congress leader said: “Such a huge embarrassment could have been avoided if the Committee had decided to independently examine the report of the CVC, report of Justice Patnaik and the submissions made by Alok Verma in his defence and draw it’s won conclusions”.

Mr. Kharge’s letter to Mr. Modi comes just days after the Congress demanding the sacking of CVC K.V. Chowdary, who it accused, acted at the behest of the Central government.