The political embarrassment over the Bofors gun scandal retuned to haunt the Congress party on Friday after the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) woke up from its 12-year slumber and filed an appeal in the Supreme Court to revive the case after the Delhi High Court ended all prosecution against the surviving accused.
As the case involved former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi, during whose tenure an order for purchase of 400 Bofors 155m guns was signed with a Swedish gun manufacturer AB Bofors, the matter remained n spotlight. The sudden death of the former PM followed by the protracted trial finally led to a decision by Delhi High
Court on December 31, 2005, quashing all proceedings against the three Hinduja brothers named as facilitating the deal with middlemen who received kickbacks.
According to CBI’s appeal, the HC was wrong to go into an in-depth scrutiny of evidence and documents collected by the investigating agency at the stage of framing of charges. This, according to the agency, ought to have been considered at the stage of trial.