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Govt says it won't tamper with Bofors chargesheet

The government today rejected the Opposition demand to delete assassinated prime minister Rajiv Gandhi's name from the Bofors chargesheet, stating it had no political animus against the accused.

Leader of the House and External Affairs Minister Jaswant Singh told the Rajya Sabha that if the government ''deleted or amended the chargesheet, it will be an interference in the functioning of the investigating agencies.''

Pleading the Congress not to stall the proceedings of the House over the controversial issue, Singh said the court of law should be allowed to decide the issue. ''It should not be delayed. Bofors has taken a heavy toll. It is not prudent to drag this matter,'' he added.

Normal business in the Rajya Sabha was suspended and an impromptu discussion taken up on the Bofors chargesheet filed by the Central Bureau of Investigation on October 22.

Raising the debate Kapil Sibal questioned the propriety of including the name of Rajiv Gandhi in the chargesheet as he was dead and could not defend himself.

Leader of the Communist Party of India-Marxist E Balanandan said his party wanted an impartial probe in the whole affair. The law should take its own course, he said. Gurudas Das Gupta of the Communist Party of India also said the same.

Jayanthi Natarajan of the Tamil Maanila Congress urged the chair to direct the government to delete the name of Rajiv Gandhi from the chargesheet as he was no longer alive. She also questioned the reported move of Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee to ask the CBI to delay the filing of the chargesheet.

Adhik Shirodkar (Shiv Sena), supporting the CBI case, defended the inclusion of Rajiv Gandhi in the chargesheet.

In the Lok Sabha the Congress members staged a walkout today over the issue. Soon after the Congress exit, All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam members too walked out over a related issue. They seemed to be cut up with the chair's objection to party member P H Pandian's repeated interruption of Information and Broadcasting Minister Arun Jaitley who was responding to members on the Bofors chargesheet.

Jaitley had made it clear in his intervention that no government could dictate the investigating agency on the nature, timing and content of a chargesheet. He said the government could not oblige deputy Opposition leader Madhavrao Scindia who pleaded for the deletion of Rajiv Gandhi's name on the ground that he was a former prime minister and is no more.

In the Rajya Sabha Jaswant Singh refuted the Opposition allegation that the government was trying to shield the Hindujas. He said once the CBI received information and documents regarding the Hindujas, the chargesheet will be submitted in the court.

The Hindujas have applied to a Swiss court, praying that delivery of the Bofors documents would impinge on the sovereignty of that country.

Earlier, Gurudas Das Gupta and other members wanted to know from the government the reasons for filing the incomplete chargesheet by the CBI. They said it was aimed at shielding some influential persons, who have connections with important families in the country.

Repudiating the charge that the government was politicising the issue and maligning the late prime minister and his family, Jaswant Singh said in fact ''by raising this issue when it is in the realm of the court they (the Congress) are politicising the issue.''

In the chargesheet names of all those accused are mentioned who cannot be brought before the court as they are either absconding or are dead. In the Rajiv Gandhi murder case, the names of those absconding and dead had been mentioned.

Margbandhu of the AIADMK strongly pleaded for the deletion of the name of Rajiv Gandhi from the chargesheet and said that it was the duty of the government to see that the prosecuting agency corrected itself and the procedure was set right . Criminal law does not contemplate dead persons' names to be included in the chargesheet, he argued.

Talking to newspersons, party general secretary M Venkaiah Naidu said it was in fact the Congress which was politicising the issue.

The government had kept itself aside and allowed a free hand to the CBI in the case. The Congress should either address its objection to the CBI or before the court.

Parliament is not the forum to decide who should be chargesheeted, he said.

Naidu cited at least three previous cases in which accused were not alive but were put in List II.

He said these were related to Indira Gandhi assassination case, the Rajiv Gandhi assassination case and former Punjab chief minister Beant Singh assassination case.

The BJP parliamentary party discussed the opposition demand for a debate on the Bofors case and asked its MPs to be ready to put facts before both the Houses of Parliament.

UNI

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