Srinagar: In a scathing attack on Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the ‘unprecedented developments’ wherein the Union government sent Central Bureau of Investigation Director Alok Verma on leave, the Congress on Wednesday asked why the government removed Verma and said “who are they protecting and what are they hiding?”

“Why has the government removed CBI Director Alok Verma of his charge and sealed his offices? Who are they protecting and what are they hiding?”, the party said.

In a series of tweets, Congress spokesperson Randeep Singh Surjewala said Modi government buried the last nail into CBI’s independence.

“Systematic dismantling and denigrating of CBI is now complete. Once a premier investigating agency, PM ensures that CBI’s integrity, credibility and reliability is ‘buried and dead’”, he alleged.

The Congress was responding to the order by by Appointments Committee of the Cabinet asked CBI Director Alok Verma and Special Director Rakesh Asthana to go on leave, and appointment of Nageshwar Rao, a senior Joint Director with the probe agency, as its interim chief.

Asthana was charged under the Prevention of Corruption Act on October 15 over the allegation that businessman Satish Sana had paid a bribe of around Rs 5 crore through a middleman to the Special Director to get him off the hook.

The CBI had on Monday arrested CBI officer Devender Kumar, who worked with Asthana and accused him of making false statement against the Chief.

On Tuesday even as the Delhi High Court granted interim relief to Asthana from arrest for the next six days, the government, in an unprecedented move, issued an order in the wee hours on Wednesday to appoint an interim chief for country’s premier investigation agency.

He said Prime Minister Modi has demonstrated the true colour of his infamous ‘Modi Made Gujarat Model’ by this cloak-and-dagger mugging of CBI.

“Has the CBI Director been sacked for his keenness to probe the layers of corruption in Rafale Scam? Isn’t the rest shoddy cover up?”, he asked.