New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Friday dismissed the CBI’s appeal against the Delhi High Court’s 2005 verdict discharging all the accused, including the Hinduja brothers, in the Rs 64 crore Bofors pay-off case of the late 1980s.
The apex court rejected the CBI plea seeking condonation of the 13-year delay in filing the appeal. “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 court said the CBI could raise all grounds in the appeal against the High Court verdict filed by advocate Ajay Agrawal, who had also challenged the judgement.
The top court has admitted the petition filed by Mr Agrawal, a BJP leader, who had contested the 2014 Lok Sabha election against then Congress president Sonia Gandhi from Rae Bareilly.
“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.
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 investigation in the case.
