CBI vs CBI: Congress hails Supreme Court's order in Alok Verma case

The Supreme Court's decision to intervene in the Central Bureau of Investigation row is a "commentary on a failed government" led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the Congress said on Friday.

"Today, Modiji was again reminded that 'Modi Rule' fails miserably before the 'Rule of Law'," Congress spokesperson Randeep Singh Surjewala tweeted.

The party said "brazen attempts to interfere, infiltrate or capture institutions" will not be tolerated and "people of India will remind you (Modi) in 2019 that bad governments come with an expiry date!"

The apex court on Friday appointed one of its former judges, Justice A.K. Patnaik, to supervise an inquiry into the allegations against CBI Director Alok Verma while giving two weeks time to the Central Vigilance Commission to complete the probe.

This came "despite the government's protests in court", as a bench of Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi, Justice Sanjay Krishan Kaul and Justice K.M. Joseph called the probe an "exception" to be supervised, stripping the interim Director M. Nageswara Rao of all powers except daily administration, Surjewala said.

"History will not forget how you severely undermined the reputation of two premier institutions, CBI and CVC. You are the sole reason for this trust deficit!" the party said hailing the top court's decision.

With this yet again the Modi government's "sinister attempt to capture CBI through lackeys" have fallen flat, the party said, adding that the BJP-led NDA should consider it a "slap in face of tyrants who wanted to pin the last nail in CBI's independence".