ISLAMABAD – The Modi government Wednesday told the Indian Supreme Court thatthe documents related to Rafale aircraft deal have been stolen from theDefence Ministry and the petitioners seeking a review of its verdictdismissing all pleas against the purchase of the jets relied upon thosedocuments, reported *The Hindu.link*
Indian SC began the open court hearing, during which former union ministersYashwant Sinha and Arun Shourie and Advocate Prashant Bhushan, who hadjointly filed the petition, alleged that the Centre suppressed crucialfacts when the apex court decided to dismiss the batch of PILs against theRafale deal in December.
When Bhushan referred to an article. Indian Attorney General KK Venugopalopposed it, saying that the articles were based on stolen documents and aninvestigation into the matter is on.
Venugopal said the first article by the senior journalist on February 8.Wednesday’s *The Hindu* report was aimed at influencing the proceedings andthat amounted to contempt of court, he said.
While Venugopal was seeking dismissal of the review petitions and raisingobjections to Bhushan’s arguments based on the articles published in *TheHindu,* the bench sought to know from the Centre what has it done when itis alleging that the stories are based on stolen material.
The AG also submitted that the documents on the deal relied on by thepetitioners were marked secret and classified, and therefore, are inviolation of Official Secrets Act.
Advancing his arguments on behalf of Sinha, Shourie and himself, Bhushansaid critical facts on Rafale were suppressed when the petition for an FIRand investigation were filed.
He said that the top court would not have dismissed the plea for FIR andprobe into Rafale deal had there not been suppression of facts.
However, Venugopal said the documents relied upon by Bhushan were stolenfrom the Defence Ministry and an investigation into the matter was underway.
At this point, the CJI said that hearing Bhushan did not mean that the topcourt was also taking on record the documents on the Rafale deal.
Last week, Modi said that India would have achieved much more if thecountry had the possession of French-made Rafale aircraft, and accused theopposition of letting down the nation.
The Rafale deal was agreed by the Manmohan Singh government with France,but Modi changed its terms, which the opposition says was aimed to benefita businessman close to the prime minister.
“The country has felt the shortage of Rafale. Today, India is speaking inone voice and saying what all could have happened if we had Rafale. Egopolitics over the Rafale deal has harmed the nation,” the prime ministersaid at the India Today Conclave 2019 in Delhi.