Bofors scam probe: CBI asks DoPT to review 2005 decision by Delhi HC exonerating accused

CBI has asked the Department of Personnel and Training to reconsider a 2005 decision by the Delhi High Court into the Bofors scam, whereby all charges against the accused were quashed.

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In Short

  • The Bofors probe had significantly cost the government over Rs 240 crore.
  • Hinduja brothers, Bofors company officials were accused in the Rs 64-crore Bofors scam.
  • CBI recently told the Public Accounts Committee it was keen to reopen the probe.

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has asked the Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) to reconsider a 2005 decision on the Bofors probe.

The federal agency on Friday wrote to its administrative department, ahead of a hearing in the Supreme Court on October 30.

The Bofors investigation had come to a halt after the Delhi High Court in May 2005 quashed all charges against prime accused, the Hinduja brothers and the Bofors company officials in the Rs 64-crore kickback scam. The Bofors probe had significantly cost the government over Rs 240 crore and the probe which had floundered was nowhere close to conclusion.

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The CBI had then tried to file a Special Leave Petition (SLP) in the apex court, challenging the high court order but permission was denied by the law ministry.

SUPREME COURT HEARING SLP AT PRESENT

The Supreme Court is at present hearing an SLP filed by lawyer Ajay Agarwal. The lawyer had unsuccessfully contested the 2014 polls against Sonia Gandhi from Rae Bareili in Uttar Pradesh on a BJP ticket. The CBI has been made a party to the case and will have to make its stand clear before the next date of hearing.

The CBI recently told the Public Accounts Committee that it was willing to reopen the probe in the defence scam. A PAC sub committee had told CBI chief ALok Verma to put up the case regarding the bribe charges.

CBI officials in the past have felt there was enough evidence still in the Bofors case to nail the Congress' top leadership but SK Sharma, then director of Prosecution, had given an opinion in the negative.

What has added impetus to the Bofors case is a revelation by private detective Michael Hershman that his probe was sabotaged by the Rajiv Gandhi government. Hershman, who works for US private detective firm Fairfax, claims to have stumbled across evidence that made the then Congress government nervous.

WATCH VIDEO | President Mukherjee opens up on Bofors scam