Bofors case: CBI files plea in SC against HC order quashing charges against accused

The CBI today filed a petition in the Supreme Court challenging a 2005 order of the Delhi High Court quashing all charges against the accused persons in the politically-sensitive Rs 64 crore Bofors pay-off case.

The agency filed the appeal against the May 31, 2005 decision of the high court by which all the accused persons including Europe-based industrialists Hinduja brothers were discharged from the case. The filing of the appeal assumes significance as recently Attorney General KK Venugopal had advised against going for the petition after 12 years of delay. However, sources said that the law officers after consultation were in favour of the appeal as the CBI placed some important documents and evidence to challenge the high court order.

The Bofors scandal, relating to alleged payment of kickbacks in the procurement of howitzer artillery guns, rocked the then government under Rajiv Gandhi in the early 1990s. The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) wanted to approach the Supreme Court in 2005 after the Delhi High Court quashed the Bofors case, but it was denied permission by the then UPA government.

The Supreme Court on Friday will hear the petition filed by lawyer Ajay Aggarwal seeking Chief Justice of India (CJI) Dipak Misra's recusal in Bofors Case. On January 31, a petition has been filed in the top court seeking recusal of Justice Misra from hearing the Bofors case. 

Even as Congress president Rahul Gandhi took a swipe at Prime Minister Narendra Modi's speech at the World Economic Forum (WEF), some 26 years ago the then External Affairs Minister and senior Congress leader Madhav Singh Solanki had used this Forum in the Swiss ski resort of Davos to scuttle the probe into the multi-crore Bofors payoff scandal.

According to court documents, Solanki had attempted to mislead the Swiss authorities who were executing the Letters Rogatory sent by India to that country seeking assistance in the probe, and scuttle the investigations. Solanki, who visited Davos in 1992 to represent India at the WEF, allegedly met the Swiss foreign minister Rene Felber there and conveyed his reservations on the matter. According to a note submitted by the CBI, Solanki told Felber that inquiries conducted into the scam in India had failed to produce any result and that the request for mutual assistance was based on political considerations.

In his speech at the WEF, PM Modi had referred to the dangers posed due to inequality, asserting that "the biggest reason for fracture within the countries is inequality and disparity leading to divide and distrust". But Gandhi countered, asking him to tell Davos why 1% of India's population gets 73% of its wealth? He attached an Oxfam report triggering a storm of replies and retweets from his supporters and critics alike. The Congress chief quite conveniently forgot the Solanki episode – a minister trying to dislodge a probe under the cover of 'promoting' the India at a world forum.