NEW DELHI: On Wednesday, lawyer Ajay Agarwal, who had been fighting the Rs 64 crore Bofors pay-off case in various courts, filed an application in the Supreme Court for an early hearing of his plea. He is challenging the Delhi High Court’s 2005 verdict, which quashed all charges, including those against the Hinduja brothers and other businessmen.According to sources in the Supreme Court and Registry, the plea might be heard in the apex court in a week or so, keeping the case’s sensitivity in mind. “The case may come up for hearing likely within a week,” the source said.In a similar development, the CBI also recently sent its judicial request to the US, seeking fresh information on the Bofors scandal. The Central Bureau of Investigation sought information from private investigators there.In addition to Agarwal, the CBI surprised everyone by approaching the Supreme Court in 2018, after a 13-year gap, to challenge the HC verdict. After 2018, the Apex Court had not conducted any fruitful hearing so far in the case, Agarwal’s plea said.The A B Bofors company, commonly known as Bofors, signed a Rs 1400 crore agreement with the Indian government in 1986 to supply 400 units of 155 mm Howitzer guns to the Indian Army. Later, it was revealed that the company had paid a total bribe of Rs 64 crores to senior Indian politicians and defense officers to secure the deal.The application, filed by advocate Agrawal, said that the apex court had on November 2, 2018, dismissed the CBI’s plea against the Delhi high court verdict and said the probe agency can raise all these grounds in the appeal filed by him against the same judgment.It is to be noted that Indian and Italian businessmen S P Hinduja, Ottavio Quattrocchi and Win Chaddha — all Bofors pay-off accused — had already died.
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