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Sonia seeks R K Anand's help to exonerate Rajiv

Onkar Singh in New Delhi

Congress president Sonia Gandhi held detailed discussions with top-flight criminal lawyer R K Anand soon after she came to know that the Central Bureau of Investigation was filing a chargesheet in the Bofors payoffs case.

Though the lawyer refused to confirm or deny the meeting, sources close to him told rediff.com that the meeting had indeed taken place at 10 Janpath at Gandhi's instance.

It is understood that Gandhi has decided to entrust Anand with the task of preparing her late husband's defence.

Though Rajiv Gandhi has been named in column two of the chargesheet as an accused who will not be sent up for trial, Sonia Gandhi believes his name has been mentioned at all only to embarrass her.

Congress sources said Gandhi was impressed with the defence put up by Anand in various courts for former prime minister P V Narasimha Rao.

"Look at the way he defended Rao in the St Kitts case and got him out of the legal mess. Though the JMM and some other cases are still pending, the former prime minister is confident Anand will bail him out of those too. What will happen to Chandraswami, I cannot say. But Rao will come out unharmed in the Lakhubhai Pathak case as well," said a senior Congress official who claimed to know "a bit of law".

When contacted, Anand said there was nothing in the Bofors chargesheet against Rajiv Gandhi and the CBI appeared to be trying to harass his widow by naming him.

"I challenge the legal advisers of the Government of India to show me even one case where the name of a dead person has been put in Column 2 with the remark, 'not sent for trial'. I think I know a bit about the law, but to the best of my knowledge I have not come across a single case of this nature so far," Anand told rediff.com

He said the case appeared to be more politically motivated than based on facts. "From what I understand, there were negotiations between the Government of India and AB Bofors on the understanding that there would be no middlemen in the deal. But if I were to buy even a pen from a foreign company directly, still commission would be paid to the Indian agent irrespective of whether he was involved in the deal.

"As far as naming the accused in the chargesheet is concerned, the law is very clear. In Column 1 you put the names of all the accused who are being put on trial. In Column 2 you put the names of those who are not available and are absconding or the names of those against whom you do not have sufficient evidence. In case they are caught later on or there is sufficient evidence, they can be tried. But there has been no case in this country where a dead man has been named in Column 2. It is highly unethical, immoral. You cannot do it. It has never happened," he said.

Referring to Minister of State for Information and Broadcasting Arun Jaitley's statement that Gandhi had been named in the chargesheet to make it legally sustainable, Anand said that if true, the statement revealed Jaitley's lack of knowledge of criminal law.

"Let him cite even one case where the name of a dead man has been put in the list of accused in Column 2. I have been saying it from day one that this is a political case and the government is not going to get anything by going ahead with it. If you have a case based on facts, then no matter what the costs, you should prosecute the accused. But in this case the only person who will be facing trial will be S K Bhatnagar, the former defence secretary, as all the other accused are either dead or out of India and will have to be extradited before they can be prosecuted," said Anand.

But Anand was unwilling to say whether he would challenge the government's decision to put Gandhi's name in the chargesheet? "You will know what we do in due course," he said.

ALSO SEE: Chargesheet was ready two months ago: Advani
Rajiv Gandhi tried to kill Bofors probe: CBI

The Bofors Controversy

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