Appointment of CBI interim chief 'illegal': Kharge to PM; demands immediate selection panel meet

Terming as "illegal" the appointment of M Nageswara Rao as the CBI's interim director, leader of Congress in Lok Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge has written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and demanded that a meeting of the selection committee be convened immediately to appoint a new chief of the probe agency.

Kharge, who is part of the prime minister-headed three-member panel that removed Alok Verma as CBI chief despite the Congress leader's dissent note, alleged that the government is scared of the CBI being led by an "independent" director.

"The government should come clean by releasing the CVC report, the report of Justice Patnaik and the minutes of the meeting held on January 10, 2019, so that the public can draw its own conclusion on this matter," he said in his letter to the prime minister, while accusing the government of violating the law in appointing Rao.

"The appointment of an interim director is illegal and against section 4A (1) and 4A (3) of the DSPE Act.

"The actions of the government in this matter indicate that it is scared of having the CBI headed by an independent director," he said