Rahul terms CBI as 'weapon for political vendetta'

Gandhi's comments come after the CBI announced on Sunday that it has registered a case against its own Special Director Rakesh Asthana of accepting bribe to settle a case of meat exporter Moin Qureshi, who is facing multiple cases of money laundering and corruption.

Congress President Rahul Gandhi. Photo: PTI

New Delhi: Congress President Rahul Gandhi on Monday termed the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) as a "weapon of political vendetta" under the Narendra Modi's regime. Gandhi's comments come after the CBI announced on Sunday that it has registered a case against its own Special Director Rakesh Asthana of accepting bribe to settle a case of meat exporter Moin Qureshi, who is facing multiple cases of money laundering and corruption. "The PM's blue-eyed boy, Gujarat cadre officer, of Godra SIT fame, infiltrated as No. 2 into the CBI, has now been caught taking bribes," Gandhi tweeted. "Under this PM, the CBI is a weapon of political vendetta. An institution in terminal decline that's at war with itself." Apart from Asthana, the CBI has also named Samant Kumar Goel, Special Director of RAW, but not as an accused. Earlier, Asthana had filed a complaint against CBI Director Alok Verma accusing him of interfering in the Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation corruption case involving family members of Rashtriya Janata Dal leader Lalu Prasad.