Bofors case: SC dismisses CBI appeal challenging clean chit to Hindujas

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New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Friday dismissed an appeal filed by the Central Bureau of Investigations (CBI) challenging a 2005 Delhi High Court verdict which had given a clean chit to Hinduja brothers in the Bofors case.

The apex court said that appeals are time bound and therefore, it cannot entertain CBI's appeal in the matter.

The London-based billionaire Hinduja brothers had been cleared of accepting kickbacks in the politically sensitive arms scandal by the Delhi High Court on May 31 of 2005. Srichand Hinduja and his brothers Gopichand and Prakash were cleared from accusations that they had received payments worth $8.3 million from Sweden-based AB Bofors to help gain an Indian government contract for Bofors guns. The HC had also given a clean chit to AB Bofors which had been accused of paying $1.3 billion in bribes.

The deal for 400 15mm Howitzer guns for the Indian Army has remained shrouded in murky waters ever since March 24 of 1987 when a Swedish radio channel claimed that the company had paid bribes to top Indian politicians and defence personnel to secure the contract. It prompted the then prime minister in Rajiv Gandhi to assure Lok Sabha that no bribes were paid or received and that there were no middlemen involved. (Click here for a complete timeline)