The controversial Rs 64 crore Bofors gun pay-off case resurrected on Monday in the lok Sabha with BJP members seeking a "proper investigation" in the light of "new evidence" into the arms deal saying the country should know the "complete truth".
Meenakshi lekhi and Nishikant Dubey, both BJP members, demanded that the case be reopened from the year 2005 to establish whether illegal payments were made for buying the guns.
Raising the issue during Zero Hour, lekhi said the 'genie' of Bofors case will continue to haunt the Congress Party until a proper investigation is conducted.
After BJP members raised the issue in the lower House, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Ananth Kumar also called for a through enquiry. Talking to newspersons, he said the issue had resurfaced and the Congress should support an investigation into it if it stood for probity in public life.
Quoting Sten lindstrom, a senior Swedish officer who had probed the alleged scam involving then Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi, Kumar said he had spoken about a "huge amount of evidence" that had been handed over to India and that the scale of bribery in the deal could be bigger than earlier thought.
"lindstorm has said that the former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi was involved in this. There must be a thorough probe. The country should know the complete truth," the minister told reporters.
Kumar declined to answer a question on whether his government would order a probe.
The 1986 deal between India and Sweden for Howitzer field guns was mired in controversy over allegations of kickbacks being paid to Indian politicians and others.
lekhi said no action was taken on documents received from Swiss Banks. Those documents are locked in government boxes. She also said no action was taken on letter Rogatory sent.
She went on to refer to bail being granted in the case despite it being an offence where bail could not have been granted.
"It is continuously stated that it is a 30-year-old issue, so why raise it now. I believe that unless it is given a proper burial, the genie will continue to haunt," she said. "Today the geine is out of the bottle again. The country deserves to know what exactly happened."
She said such a big corruption issue has again been highlighted on TV.
India had in March 1986 signed a deal to buy 410 155mm guns. It is alleged that bribes up to $10 million were paid for the deal.
Dubey said a chargesheet in the case was filed on October 22, 1999 and a second on October 9, 2000. High Court, in a judgment, quashed the chargesheet on May 31, 2005, he said.
When the chargsheet was quashed, CBI told the then government that the case should be revived but DoPT - the reporting administrative ministry of CBI - did not give permission, the BJP member said.