Having failed again to get Italian businessman Ottavio Quattrocchi extradited to India to face trial for his alleged involvement in the Bofors kickbacks scam, the Central Bureau of Investigation plans to review the case and examine whether it could still be pursued.
CBI Director Vijay Shankar put up a brave face on Wednesday after Quattrocchi left Argentina for Italy following India's failure to appeal against a court's decision not to extradite him, and claimed the matter was under investigation and that the businessman was still an accused.
Sources in the agency, however, said the issue would be reviewed completely and the government apprised after this exercise.
The government would also be asked whether it wanted the CBI to still pursue the 17-year-old case, they said.
The sources said since this was the second time that India had been unable to bring Quattrocchi to the country to face trial, there was an urgent need to review the matter and to ascertain whether Interpol's red corner notice against him was still valid.
India had earlier failed to get Quattrocchi extradited from Malaysia.
The case also needs to be reviewed in view of successive judgments by the Delhi high court that quashed charges against the Hinduja brothers in the Bofors scam, the sources said.