Thirty-two years since the accused in the Bofors scam case were set free by the Delhi High Court, the Supreme Court on Tuesday questioned whether it can hear an appeal filed by a third party, particularly when the prosecuting agency, CBI, has not approached it.
A Bench, headed by Chief Justice Dipak Misra, asked the CBI, “For 31 years, nobody has challenged the order of their acquittal (of May 31, 2005). When the prosecuting agency does not challenge, why should we get inIJ” The Court felt that entertaining a petition by a private unrelated party to a criminal trial will set a dangerous precedent as then a trial can be reopened at the instance of any citizen.
Posing this question to CBI counsel Additional Solicitor General (ASG) Maninder Singh, the Court gave time till February 2 for both CBI and the petitioner Ajay Agarwal to come prepared.
The Court even frowned upon the earlier Court orders entertaining Agarwal’s appeal. The bench, also comprising Justices AM Khanwilkar and DY Chandrachud, said, “By expanding the scope of criminal appeal jurisprudence, it has created lots of problem. There has to be a bonafide connection of the appellant with the victim who suffered crime, for instance, brother, wife, mother, etc. Anybody cannot come up with an appeal.”
Initially, when the case came up, senior advocate Kapil Sibal stood up and opposed the appeal by questioning the locus standi of Agarwal. Resisting Sibal’s presence in the case, Agarwal told the bench that the case was a highly sensitive political case that affected the nation as a whole and related to kickbacks of `64 crore in defence purchases of 400 Bofors 155 mm Howitzer guns, considered crucial for the safety and security of the country.
On May 31, 2005 Delhi HC quashed all charges against the three Hinduja brothers -- Srichand, Gopichand and Prakashchand, the lone surviving accused in the case, along with the AB Bofors company. The initial case filed by CBI on January 22, 1990 had listed Win Chadda, Italian businessmen and a middleman in the scam Ottavio Quattrocchi, the then defence secretary S K Bhatnagar, Martin Ardbo of Bofors company. later, Hinduja brothers were added as accused.