After a Ministry of Defence’s (MoD) dissent note on Rafale deal published in a prominent newspaper, Former Air Marshal Shyam Bihari Prasad Sinha, who headed the Rafale negotiations, said that the MoD note has been used to “malign” the defence deal by “concealing facts”. “It was very surprising for me to know that in the article printed today a note within MoD has been used to malign this procurement by concealing facts, the remarks of the Defence Minister are not there,” Sinha told ANI. He further said the dissent note was not initiated by the Indian team which was involved in the Rafale procurement process, and was initiated by S.K. Sharma who was not part of the negotiations, and asked whose “behest” he initiated the note? “Note has nothing to do with Indian team's negotiation on Rafale procurement as this note wasn't initiated by Indian negotiating team. It has been initiated by SK Sharma, who was not part of Indian negotiation team. On whose behest he initiated this note?” Sinha informed ANI.