Alok Verma was doing 'good job', urge PM to reconsider action against him: Subramanian Swamy
Ahmedabad, Oct 25: BJP MP Subramanian Swamy on Thursday said CBI Director Alok Verma is an "upright officer" who was doing a "good job" to check corruption and urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to reconsider action taken against him.
Swamy said he has full faith in the prime minister but claimed that those "around him" are trying to "harm the interests" of Modi as well as the BJP.
Verma and CBI's Special Director Rakesh Asthana, who were at loggerheads, were divested of all powers and sent on leave by the government on Tuesday night.
Swamy, who was here to attend an event, told reporters that Verma was doing a "good job" in the fight against corruption.
"I urge the prime minister to reconsider removal of CBI director Alok Verma," the BJP MP said.
"Alok Verma is an upright officer, while Asthana is a corrupt officer," Swamy alleged.
Asked if he has any proof of the allegations that he was levelling against Asthana, Swamy said he never speaks anything without proper proof.
"Nirav Modi ran away, Mehul Choksi ran away and in the case of (Vijay) Mallya, the lookout notice was lowered for him to go. These things are affecting the BJP's fight against corruption when it had promised that it will bring back black money stashed abroad," he said.
Swamy also said he would withdraw himself from the corruption cases he had filed against senior Congress leaders if the Enforcement Directorate (ED) official Rajeshwar Singh was removed from the ongoing probe against former finance minister P Chidambaram.
Swamy, who has filed various cases against senior Congress leaders, claimed there were many "well-wishers" of Chidambaram in the BJP who were trying to save him.
He, however, did not name anyone.
"In today's situation, ED officer Rajeshwar, if he is removed, then I will come to the conclusion that a conspiracy is going on to save Chidambaram. There are many well-wishers of Chidambaram in our party who are trying to save him.
"I will withdraw myself from all the cases filed against Chidambaram in the Supreme court, cases filed against Sonia and Rahul Gandhi in Patiala House (court) in the National Herald (case) and the case against Shashi Tharoor in the (alleged) murder of his wife," he said.
"When I am fighting all these cases in the interest of the party and the nation, somebody from within is trying to backstab me. What else can I do," the BJP leader said.
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Ahmedabad plane crash: Six months on, college hostel lies in ruins, sans bustle of students
Ahmedabad (PTI): Six months after the AI-171 plane crash, the B J Medical College hostel complex in Ahmedabad stands as a haunting reminder, with its charred walls and burnt trees replacing the once lively chatter of students with an eerie stillness.
Scattered across the crash site are grim remnants of daily life - burnt cars and motorcycles, twisted beds and furniture, charred books, clothes and personal belongings.
The Atulyam-4 hostel building and the adjoining canteen complex stand abandoned, with entry strictly prohibited.
For residents near the site, memories of the incident still linger, casting a lasting shadow on their lives, with some of them saying they are still afraid to look up at the sky when an aircraft passes overhead.
On June 12, Air India flight AI-171, a Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner bound for London, crashed moments after take-off from the Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel International Airport, killing 260 persons.
The aircraft slammed into the BJ Medical College hostel complex in Meghaninagar, turning a lively student neighbourhood into a landscape of ruin and grief.
"The area now lies very silent, only a few birds chirp here," Sanjaybhai, a security guard deployed at the premises by authorities to prevent trespassing, told PTI.
Mahendrasingh Jadeja, a general store owner whose shop is just 50 metres from the point where the aircraft struck, described it as an unimaginable calamity. "In all my years, I have never seen anything like this."
Pointing to a tree behind his shop, the 60-year-old said the aircraft first struck there before crashing into the hostel building.
"It was a scorching summer afternoon. Not many people were outside. When I heard a loud crashing sound, I ran out of my shop. We were all terrified," he recalled.
"Even today, we instinctively look up whenever a plane passes overhead," he added.
Another local, Manubhai Rajput, who lives barely 200 metres from the site, said he witnessed the horror unfold on June 12.
"The plane was flying unusually low. Before I could understand what was happening, there was thick black smoke and a deafening crash," he said.
For over three decades, Rajput and his neighbours lived close to the airport without giving much thought to the aircraft overhead.
"We never looked up at the sky. But that day is etched in my mind. The plane hit a tree first, and then there was a loud sound," he said.
Rajput recalled how hundreds of locals rushed to the site even before police, fire services or the Army arrived.
Tinaben, another resident of Meghaninagar, said she never imagined something like this could happen in Ahmedabad.
"Despite being close to the airport, this area always felt safe," she said.
As an aircraft roared overhead during the conversation, Tinaben paused, looked up nervously and said, "It's still scary."
A senior official of Civil Hospital Ahmedabad, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the state government has yet to decide what to do with the damaged site.
Currently, investigations are going on and the site is strictly prohibited for people, he added.
