(PTI)
The CBI today filed a petition in the Supreme Court challenging a 2005 order of the Delhi High Court quashing all charges against accused persons in the politically-sensitive Bofors pay-off case. The filing of the appeal assumes significance as Attorney General K K Venugopal had recently advised the agency against moving a petition against the high court verdict after a delay of 12 years. Sources, however, said that after consultations, law officers were in favour of the appeal as the CBI came out with “some important documents and evidence” to challenge the high court order. The agency swung into action after the Attorney General orally gave it a go ahead to file the appeal in the case in which it has cited the October 2017 interview of private detective Michael Hershman, who alleged that the then Rajiv Gandhi-led Congress government had sabotaged his investigation. Hershman, who is the president of the US-based private detective firm Fairfax, had claimed in television interviews that Rajiv Gandhi was “furious” when he had found a Swiss bank account “Mont Blanc”. He had also alleged that the bribe money of the Bofors gun scandal had been parked in the Swiss account.
