The Supreme Court Friday dismissed a plea filed by the Central Bureau of Investigation against a high court order that had quashed charges against all people accused in the high-profile Bofors scandal. The court reasoned that the CBI’s appeal could not be entertained since it had been filed after a delay of more than 13 years.
The Bofors scandal, which revolved around the purchase of guns for the Indian Army, has been an albatross around the Congress party’s neck with allegations being made that former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi received a payoff on the deal to purchase the Bofors guns.
Gandhi, however, was exonerated of wrong doing by the Delhi High Court in 2011. As was Ottavio Quattrocchi, a friend of Rajiv Gandhi and who is accused of being the middleman in the Bofors deal.
In 2005, the Delhi High Court quashed charges against all other people who were accused in the Bofors case. This included the Hinduja brothers, who were also accused of being middlemen in the deal.
The CBI had appealed this 2005 Delhi High Court verdict in the Supreme Court. The plea against the high court verdict was filed in February this year after an extraordinarily long delay of 13 years.
It must be noted there is another appeal against the high court verdict that the Supreme Court is already hearing.
BJP leader and advocate Ajay Agrawal had filed an appeal against the Delhi High Court judgment in 2005 itself. The Supreme Court agreed to hear Agrawal’s plea and the case is currently pending in the court.
Today, the Supreme Court told the CBI that it could make itself heard during the hearings on Agrawal’s plea.
The scandal around the Rs 1,437-crore Bofors deal erupted after a Swedish newspaper reported that Bofors AB, a Swedish arms manufacturer, had paid bribes to ensure that the company received a contract to supply the Indian Army with howitzers.
The Swedish newspaper’s story was picked up by Indian media that carried out investigations of their own. The scandal ultimately led to the door of then Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi with claims being made that he himself had received a bribe.
