Congress president Rahul Gandhi on Friday courted arrest after staging a protest outside the CBI headquarters in New Delhi against the agency Director Alok Verma being divested of his powers and sent on leave.

Addressing a gathering earlier, Mr. Gandhi accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi of destroying institutions, including the CBI, the Election Commission of India and the Enforcement Directorate.

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

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

The Congress staged protests on the CBI issue in other parts of the country also.

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”.