The Supreme Court on Thursday dismissed the last pending appeal in the politically sensitive Bofors bribery case, formally ending all judicial proceedings linked to the nearly four-decade-old scandal.
A bench of Justice JB Pardiwala and Justice K Vinod Chandran refused to entertain advocate Ajay K Agrawal’s appeal challenging the 2005 Delhi High Court verdict that had quashed all criminal proceedings against the Hinduja brothers and Swedish arms manufacturer AB Bofors.
The court declined a request for additional time to remove the names of accused Srichand P Hinduja and Gopichand P Hinduja, who are dead, observing that the matter could not be delayed further.
The bench noted that since the Delhi High Court had already quashed the proceedings and the CBI’s appeal had also been dismissed earlier, there was no justification for continuing the case.
The Delhi High Court had, on May 31, 2005, quashed all charges against the Hinduja brothers and Bofors, while also criticising the CBI investigation, which reportedly cost the exchequer around Rs 250 crore.
The Supreme Court had previously dismissed the CBI’s appeal in November 2018, citing an unexplained delay of 4,522 days in filing it.
The Bofors controversy dates back to the Rs 1,437-crore deal signed on March 24, 1986, between the Government of India and Swedish firm AB Bofors for the purchase of 400 howitzers. In 1987, Swedish Radio alleged that illegal commissions had been paid to Indian politicians and defence officials, triggering one of India’s biggest political scandals.
With the dismissal of the final appeal, all legal proceedings related to the Bofors case have now officially concluded.
