Lawyer ML Sharma has filed a fresh petition in Supreme Court, seeking an independent investigation into Rafale deal in the light of fresh allegations in the deal, ANI reported.
CJI has stated that the Court will hear the petition urgently, without giving any date.
For the uninitiated, as per the accusation the 2016 deal between India and France also involved the payment of 1.1 million Euros by aviation major Dassault to an Indian middleman. Any such payment would be a violation of the mandatory Defence Procurement Procedure laid down by the Union Ministry of Defence.
The French publication "Mediapart" had sourced its claim in an investigation undertaken by the country's anti-corruption agency, the AFA, which made the initial findings during an audit of Dassault.
What raised eyebrows during the audit was a payment of 1.1 million Euros which the company said was used to pay for the manufacture of 50 large replica models of Rafale jets. What is befuddling is that there is no proof that these models were made, Mediapart claims. Also, there is a mystifying question: Why had Dassault ordered an Indian company to make models of its own aircraft at 20,000 Euros a plane? Why was this expenditure entered in the accounts as 'a gift to client'? And were these models, each one of which was supposed to be the size of a small car, really ever made?"
(With inputs from agencies)
