Congress President Rahul Gandhi and other leaders of the Congress Party were arrested during the protest at the CBI Headquarters in Delhi.
In a tweet, Congress spokesperson Randeep Singh Surjewala said, “Congress President, Sh. Rahul Gandhi & other leaders arrested”
Notably, in a massive protest, Congress president Rahul Gandhi, accompanied by other leaders of the opposition showed up outside the CBI headquarters in Delhi to voice their stand against the attempts of the government to intrude into the working of the investigative agency. In the process, Rahul Gandhi and other leaders of the Congress Party were arrested and taken to Lodhi Colony Police Station.
CBI chief Alok Verma and his deputy Rakesh Asthana, accused each other of accepting money as bribe from the same businessman and this was followed by the government sending the both of them on forced leaves.
The protest was joined by leaders from parties like the Trinamool Congress, Aam Aadmi Party, CPI (M) from the Dyal Singh College in Lodhi Road in central Delhi to the headquarters of the CBI.
Sharad Yadav, the Loktantrik Janata Dal leader and CPI’s D Raja along with Nadimul Haque from TMC included themselves in the protest.
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Gandhi led people in the protest, many of whom were carrying placards and shouting slogans that were critical of the government. Amongst the huge crowd, a man was seen holding a white paper where CBI was written on it inside a cage–symbolic of the government trying to cage the agency.
Gandhi himself got up on a truck placed in front of the police barricades, stopping the people from entering the CBI building.
Ashok Gehlot, the Congress general secretary said that they wanted the re-installation of Verma as the CBI chief, terming the move to dismiss him as being, “illegal.”
Our demand is to reinstate the CBI director. As per the law, he can be transferred only with the consent of the appointing authority (comprising Chief Justice of India, the prime minister and the leader of the opposition). The prime minister should tender an apology to the nation for destroying the image of the premier investigating agency,” he said, as quoted by NDTV.
Gandhi accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi of trying to stop investigations into the Rafale fighter jet deal by removing Verma from his office–terming the move as a “disgraceful and unconstitutional attempt.”
“Why was M Nageswar Rao appointed as CBI director in a hurry? All parties should protest against this along with Congress party,” said AAP leader Sanjay Singh. Mamata Banerjee, the West Bengal chief minister had said that the CBI has turned into BBI–an abbreviation for BJP bureau of investigation.
Gehlot wrote to all Congress general secretaries, chiefs of state units and legislature party leaders wherein he asked them to protest against the BJP outside the CBI offices around the country.