New Delhi, April 22: The Congress today demanded National Investigation Agency (NIA) director-general Sharad Kumar's dismissal for "deliberately weakening" some terror cases to "protect the RSS brass".

It also asked for Supreme Court monitoring of all "sensitive cases" being probed by the agency.

Congress spokesperson Ajoy Kumar said "the Narendra Modi government has shamelessly pressurised the NIA to weaken the cases involving people related to the RSS". "The NIA has been reduced to a toothless and pliant outfit. The DG of the NIA should be sacked. The Supreme Court's monitoring is required as the government is using every trick to weaken the cases because the needle of suspicion points to RSS brass."

Asked why the Congress was targeting an officer, Kumar said: "Why was an extension given to the DG after retirement, that too on contract? Is there a scarcity of good officers? There is an epidemic of witnesses turning hostile, confessional statements are not being followed up, links of accused to several cases are not being probed and prosecutors are being asked to go slow. One senior lawyer in the Malegaon blast case (prosecutor Rohini Salian) said she had been asked by the NIA to go slow."

Kumar alleged that cases like Malegaon, Ajmer, the Samjhauta Express and the Hyderabad blasts were being diluted. "The country expects integrity and responsibility from top investigators. But cases are being weakened because the Modi government doesn't want to find the truth. Samjhauta blast accused Aseemanand gave a confessional statement, saying that he had discussed the issue with RSS leader Indresh Kumar who supported his plan. The CBI interrogated Indresh Kumar. Even martyr Hemant Karkare (Mumbai officer killed fighting the 26/11 terrorists) had said (earlier) there was evidence against Colonel Purohit in the Malegaon blast."

Kumar asked, "why the government was showing such sympathy for terror accused". "Protecting them would be disastrous for the country, affecting our internal security very bad. It is a serious matter that prosecutors are saying they were asked not to take cases to logical conclusions. Union minister Uma Bharati openly supported (Malegaon blast accused) Pragya Singh, who is jail. Who are the lawyers for these accused? (BJP leaders) Satyapal Jain and Meenakshi Lekhi. That's why we say a fair investigation is impossible under the Modi governmenty."