SC rejects CBI appeal against HC verdict discharging Hinduja brothers in Bofors case

The apex court rejected the CBI plea seeking condonation of the 13-year delay in filing the appeal against the May 31, 2005 judgement of the high court saying it is not convinced with the grounds furnished by the agency.

The Supreme Court Friday dismissed the CBI appeal against the Delhi High Court's 2005 verdict discharging all the accused, including the Hinduja brothers, in the politically-sensitive Rs 64 crore Bofors pay-off case.

The apex court rejected the CBI plea seeking condonation of the 13-year delay in filing the appeal against the May 31, 2005 judgement of the high court saying it is not convinced with the grounds furnished by the agency.

"We are not convinced with the grounds furnished by the petitioner for the inordinate delay of 4,522 days in filing the present Special Leave Petitions," said a bench, headed by Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi.

The apex court said the CBI can raise all grounds in the appeal against the high court verdict filed by advocate Ajay Agrawal, who has also challenged the judgement.

The top court has already admitted the petition filed by Agrawal, the BJP leader, who had contested the 2014 Lok Sabha election against the then Congress president Sonia Gandhi from Rae Bareilly.

"Furthermore, we have noticed that in the criminal appeal filed against the very same order by the complainant, the petitioner herein i.e. Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) is a party and would be heard in the said appeal. We, therefore, are not inclined to entertain the present Special Leave Petitions," the bench, also comprising Justices K M Joseph and Hemant Gupta, said.

The CBI had filed the appeal on February 2 this year.

Attorney General K K Venugopal asked the top court to make it clear in its order that dismissal of CBI appeal would not preclude the probe agency from carrying out an investigation in the case.

The apex court, however, did not mention anything in its order on this issue.

The high court in its 2005 judgement had quashed all charges against the three Hinduja brothers -- S P Hinduja, G P Hinduja and P P Hinduja -- and others under the Prevention of Corruption Act.

In December 2016, during the hearing of Agrawal's appeal, the apex court had asked the CBI why it had not filed the appeal within the mandatory time limit of 90 days. The agency had said that it did not get the nod from the previous UPA government.

After the NDA government came to power, there were speculations that the CBI would take a call to either respond as a respondent in Agrawal's petition or prefer a separate appeal.

After a lot of deliberation, the CBI this year got the nod from the NDA government to file an appeal in the apex court.

The filing of the appeal assumes significance as Venugopal in January had advised the agency against moving a petition challenging the high court verdict after a delay of more than a decade.

Later, after consultations, law officers were in favour of the appeal as the CBI came out with "some important documents and evidence" to challenge the high court order.

Agrawal had written a letter to the CBI in 2017 asking it not to file a separate appeal and had urged the agency to raise its contention in the appeal filed by him.

Sources in February had said the agency swung into action after the attorney general orally gave it the go-ahead to file the appeal in the case in which it cited the October 2017 interview of private detective Michael Hershman, who alleged that the then Rajiv Gandhi-led Congress government had sabotaged his investigation.

Hershman, who is the president of the US-based private detective firm Fairfax, had claimed in television interviews that Rajiv Gandhi was "furious" when he had found a Swiss bank account "Mont Blanc".

He had also alleged that the bribe money of the Bofors gun scandal had been parked in the Swiss account.

The CBI in its appeal stated that further investigation was necessary for a view of the reports relating to Hershman's interviews.

Before the 2005 verdict of Justice R S Sodhi (since retired), another judge of the Delhi High Court, retired Justice J D Kapoor, had on February 4, 2004, exonerated Rajiv Gandhi in the case and directed the framing of charge of forgery under section 465 of the IPC against Bofors company.

The Rs 1,437-crore deal between India and Swedish arms manufacturer AB Bofors for the supply of 400 units of 155 mm Howitzer guns for the Indian Army was entered into on March 24, 1986.

Swedish Radio on April 16, 1987, had claimed that the company had paid bribes to top Indian politicians and defence personnel.

The CBI on January 22, 1990, had registered the FIR for alleged offences of criminal conspiracy, cheating and forgery under the Indian Penal Code and other sections of the Prevention of Corruption Act against Martin Ardbo, the then president of AB Bofors, alleged middleman Win Chadda and the Hinduja brothers.

It had alleged that certain public servants and private persons in India and abroad had entered into a criminal conspiracy between 1982 and 1987 in pursuance of which the offences of bribery, corruption, cheating and forgery were committed.

The first charge sheet in the case was filed on October 22, 1999, against Chadda, Italian businessman and middleman Ottavio Quattrocchi, the then defence secretary S K Bhatnagar, Ardbo and the Bofors company.

A supplementary charge sheet was filed against the Hinduja brothers on October 9, 2000.

A special CBI court in Delhi on March 4, 2011, had discharged Quattrocchi from the case, saying the country could not afford to spend hard-earned money on his extradition which had already cost Rs 250 crore.

(With inputs from agencies.)