Moving to reopen litigation in the Bofors scandal twelve years after the Delhi High Court quashed all proceedings against the Hinduja brothers in the case, the CBI has sought government permission to challenge the 2005 ruling in the Supreme Court. In a letter to the government, the CBI has sought permission to file a Special Leave Petition against the High Court ruling. This will effectively overturn the stand taken by the then UPA government.

The CBI, in a June 22 note to the Central Agency Section of the Department of Legal Affairs (Ministry of Law and Justice), stated that it did not file the SLP since it did not get permission from the then “competent authority”.

“The CBI as the investigating agency was of the view that SLP should be preferred against order of the Delhi High Court dated 31st May 2005 quashing all proceedings against Hinduja brothers. However, since permission for filing SLP was not accorded to the CBI by the competent authority, no SLP was preferred,” the CBI’s note to the Law Ministry stated.

The CBI also disclosed this to a sub-committee of the Public Accounts Committee of Parliament looking into the Bofors scandal.