The recent tale of two bureaucrats was no ordinary tale: one is India's second highest Police Service (IPS) official — the Intelligence Bureau chief protocol-wise our top police official — and the other is an Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer, the civil services' topper in his year, no small achievement. Alok Verma headed the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) twice, and was removed twice by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. A petition to the Supreme Court by former BJP ministers Arun Shourie and Yashwant Sinha (plus eminent jurist Prashant Bhushan) soon after Verma was dramatically removed in a midnight coup on October 23, stated that Verma's removal was to prevent an inquiry into the Rafale jet fighter deal, on which Congress president Rahul Gandhi has alleged favouritism to the tune of approximately R30,000 crore by Modi.

The inference is that the PM is worried about a probe and found it necessary to remove Verma on charges made by Verma's subordinate (an officer from Modi's home state who has previously probed the train burning in Godhra that led to the 2002 Gujarat riots), which a retired Supreme Court judge (appointed by the current Court to oversee the probe) found unsubstantiated. When Modi, as part of the panel to choose the CBI chief, considered Verma's case again last week, he did not consider the retired judge's report. Verma, himself an officer of high probity, stated that he was pressurised to work things out with the subordinate. He has written to the government asking to be relieved from service. The other resignation was of Shah Faesal of J&K.