The Supreme Court on Friday turned down the plea for a court-monitored probe into the Agusta Westland chopper scam after the Centre assured the Court that probe is on and the chargesheet is likely to be filed by the end of this year.
Accepting the submission of the Centre, the Court disposed the PIl filed by lawyer Ml Sharma giving him the option to approach the apex court at a later stage after filing of the charge sheet. The order came as a huge relief to the Congress Party as the role of Congress President Sonia Gandhi and former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh were sought to be probed by the petitioner.
The bench of Justices Dipak Misra and C Nagappan had issued notice to the Centre and CBI on an earlier date in order to ascertain the stage of investigation into the high-profile scam. Appearing for the Centre, Solicitor General Ranjit Kumar informed the Court that a Special Investigation Team (SIT) had been set up by the Government to probe all allegations. Moreover, the matter is pending investigation with CBI which had registered a FIR in the year 2013. The case was in connection with alleged bribes paid by the AW firm to Indians to clinch a deal for purchase of 12 helicopters meant to ferry VVIPs including the President and Prime Minister.
The Centre maintained that there was no need for a Court-monitored investigation as the investigation is yet to complete. He demanded the petition to be dismissed as infructuous as the probe agency was expected to file its investigation report later this year.
Sharma had attached news clippings based on an Italian court's decision hinting to the role of top Congress leaders in the scam. He even alleged that no FIR was registered against these political heavyweights and instead, some were being offered constitutional posts. The bench directed Sharma to expunge the remarks referring to constitutional authorities.
Solicitor General reacted to such wild allegations leveled by the petitioner and said there was no room for any doubt that the guilty will be spared. "Nobody is above law. If there is evidence against anyone in the case, he or she will be booked as per law," Kumar said.