SC dismisses CBI plea in Bofors case

NEW DELHI: The Central Bureau of Investigation’s (CBI) bid to reopen the decades-old Bofors case suffered a setback on Friday as the Supreme Court refused to entertain its plea to revive corruption charges against the three Hinduja brothers that were set aside 12 years ago in the politically-sensitive case.

CBI had challenged Delhi high court’s 2005 verdict quashing the charges in the ₹64 crore pay-offs case.

However, before a bench led by Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi the CBI could not justify the delay of over 4000 days in approaching the top court.

“We are not convinced with the explanation,” CJI told Attorney General KK Venugopal. Before the top law officer could commence his arguments, the CJI dictated the order.

“We are not convinced with the grounds furnished by the petitioner (CBI) to explain the inordinate delay of 4522 days in filing this appeal,” the court ordered.

In the normal course, such appeals had to be filed within 90 days.

It was even noted that an appeal filed by the complainant, BJP leader Ajay Agrawal, in 2005 is already pending before the top court.

CBI was given liberty to raise all its pleas at the time of hearing Agrawal’s appeal.

The bench even refused to observe that its order would not come in way for further investigation, as was requested by Venugopal.

Earlier this year, CBI, had joined Agrawal to challenge the order claiming new evidence. The CBI had then said it was denied permission from the then government to approach the top court HC’S 2005 verdict.

The HC had quashed all charges against the Hindujas — Srichand, Gopichand and Prakashchand — and the Bofors company in 2005 and castigated the CBI for its handling of the case, saying it had cost the exchequer about ₹250 crore.

The order came a year after another judge cleared late Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi’s name.

When asked for his legal opinion Venugopal had advised the government against approaching the top court, pointing that the petition was likely to get dismissed on account of the long delay in the case.

The appeal has been filed much after the 90-day time limit fixed under the Supreme Court Rules.

The CBI will have to give a “plausible explanation” for the delay, he had opined.

The ₹1,437-crore deal between India and Swedish arms manufacturer AB Bofors for the supply of 400 155mm Howitzer guns for the Indian Army dates back to March 1986.