Calling it a “a collusive subterfuge” between the Modi government and the Central Vigilance Commission (CVC), the Congress party on Saturday accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi of sacking CBI chief Alok Verma to put a lid on investigation into the controversial Rafale deal.

Senior party leaders including Ashok Gehlot, Shakti Singh Gohil, Randeep Surjewala and the newly inducted Tariq Anwar, addressing a joint media conference here this evening, claimed that the decision to divest CBI chief of his powers in a dramatic midnight action was allegedly taken well in advance at the behest of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

The government had divested powers of Verma and CBI's Special Director Rakesh Asthana's in the early hours of October 24, amid an ongoing spat between them. The decision to remove the two was reportedly based on the CVC's recommendations.

Congress leaders claimed there were layers of drama in the late night that day wherein "a fraud was played on the Constitution by Prime Minister Narendra Modi along with CVC, which was now out in the open".

The Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) in collaboration with the CVC and the Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) which comes under the control of the Prime Minister, allegedly hatched a conspiracy to remove CBI chief Verma as he was about to start an investigation into the Rafale scam, according to Surjewala.

Surjewla went on to allege that the sequence of events between October 23 -24 were sufficient to prove how removal of the CBI chief Verma was a well-thought-out conspiracy. Connecting the dots, Surjewala made the following claims:

i) CVC chief KV Chowdary was scheduled to go on a tour to Denmark on October 23 evening. But he abruptly canceled his tour and held a meeting of CVC at night.

ii) At 11 pm, Joint Director CBI, M Nageshwar Rao, was sent to CBI headquarter in anticipation of the CVC order.

iii) At 11:30 pm, Delhi Police Commissioner called his subordinates to alert them for an urgent midnight operation near Khan Market, New Delhi.

iv) At 12:00 am, Delhi Police Commissioner received instructions from National Security Adviser (NSA) Ajit Doval and briefed Delhi Police officers for taking over the CBI headquarter.

v) At 12:30 am, as Delhi Police attempted to take control at CBI headquarter, they were stopped by Central Industrial Security Force (CISF), guarding the premises. Commissioner of Delhi Police spoke to the head of CISF, who after getting a call from the PMO permitted Delhi Police to take over the CBI headquarters.

vi) Between 2:30 am and 1:00 am, CVC and his two colleagues drafted the order under Section 8 (1) of the CVC Act--2003 for the removal of Verma, and the order was then taken to the North Block, where Secretary Personnel, C Chandramouli was waiting as per the instructions of the PMO.