After staging a huge protest outside the CBI headquarters against the move to divest CBI Director Alok Verma of his powers, Congress president Rahul Gandhi courted arrest along with other party leaders on Friday.

Talking to reporters at the Lodhi Colony police station, the Congress chief said Prime Minister Narendra Modi “stole” money from the country, and that he could run but not hide from the truth.

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After courting arrest, Rahul Gandhi spent almost 50 minutes at the police station.

Reiterating his allegations against the PM on the Rafale fighter jet deal, Gandhi once again called him “chowkidar” and said he had “deposited Rs 30,000 crore in Anil Ambani’s pocket”.

More Pics of Congress President, Sh. Rahul Gandhi in Police Station with my colleagues!

Nothing will deter us in our quest to speak truth to power & exposing Modi Govt’s corruption. pic.twitter.com/ZdAYysRm12

— Randeep Singh Surjewala (@rssurjewala) October 26, 2018

“He has stolen money from the Indian Air Force and the youth, and the entire country understands this. The prime minister can run but he cannot hide from the truth,” Gandhi told reporters at the Lodhi Colony police station.

“The truth will come out,” Gandhi said, adding that removing the CBI director would not impact the truth.

Addressing the gathering of Congress protesters earlier in the day, Gandhi accused PM Modi of destroying institutions such as the CBI, the Election Commission and the Enforcement Directorate.

Read | CVC probe against CBI chief Alok Verma to be completed in 2 weeks, rules SC

Senior Congress leaders, including Ashok Gehlot, Ahmed Patel, Motilal Vora, Veerappa Moily and Anand Sharma, took part in the march that culminated in a demonstration ahead of the CBI headquarters.

Loktantrik Janata Dal leader Sharad Yadav, CPI leader D Raja and TMC’s Nadimul Haque joined the protest.

The Congress’ protests in the national capital were replicated in other parts of the country.

State Congress leaders led demonstrations in their regions against what the Congress described as the “illegal, unconstitutional and illegitimate removal of the CBI director by the Modi-Shah duo”.

Meanwhile, the apex court has said former Supreme Court judge A K Patnaik will oversee a CVC inquiry into the allegations against Verma and the report has to be placed before it within two weeks.

It directed that interim CBI chief M Nageswara Rao should not take any major policy decisions. Decisions taken by him since October 23 till date should not be implemented, it said.

(With agency inputs)