New Delhi, August 30
The UPA government has officially administered the last rites of the sensational Bofors case by not allowing the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to appeal against the High Court judgment, which quashed the charge sheet against the accused, including the Hindujas.
The High Court order had come on February 4 following which the CBI had a 90-day period in which to appeal against the decision. Not only has that period lapsed, even the “condonable grace period” has lapsed. Mr Suresh Pachauri, Minister in charge of the CBI, when asked by The Tribune about the inexplicable delay, refused to comment.
Sources say the CBI had formally conveyed to the government that they wanted to appeal against the High Court order since in their legal officer’s opinion a strong case existed against some of the accused including the three Hinduja brothers Gopichand, Srichand, and Ashok.
After receiving the CBI’s request the government sat on it and refused to take a decision. Even now, the Department of Personnel is still to formally tell the CBI that they cannot appeal against the order. Says one of the officials handling the case: “It seems in any case that everyone was going through the motions since Rajiv Gandhi, Win Chaddha and S.K. Bhatnagar are dead. But what about Ottavio Quattrochi and the Hindujas, now even they get off scot-free.”
While, the Congress is only acting on expected lines even the NDA government had shown no keenness to pursue the case, which had been used to bring down the Rajiv Gandhi government. CBI officials involved with the case say even in the matter of Quattrochi whose extradition has been sought from Malaysia the NDA government pulled its punches.
Mr Ram Jethmalani, counsel for the Hindujas, told The Tribune from New York that in his opinion the CBI did not have any case against the accused, including Rajiv Gandhi. “The reason the court dismissed the charge sheet is because they do not have a tenable case. Now of course everything is over” he said.
The fate of the Bofors case is telling say analysts. It could prove to be a pointer to other high-profile cases such as the fodder scam and the Telgi scam which started with a bang but will probably end with a whimper.
Interestingly, the other high-profile corruption cases against the Rajiv Gandhi government such as the Airbus deal and the HDW submarine deal have also come to nothing with the CBI telling the court that they cannot file a charge sheet due to lack of evidence.
