Rajiv Gandhi had no role in Bofors case, says Khurshid

New Delhi, Apr 25 (ANI): Union Law and Justice Minister Salman Khurshid on Wednesday said that former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi had no role to play in the Bofors Gun case, and added that there was no need to reopen the case.

"There was a detailed investigation and there were Supreme Court and high court proceedings in this matter and in view of the proceedings that took place in the decision that came were endorsed in those proceedings. I don't think we can continue to reopen these issues and we have always been completely convinced that our late prime minister, Rajiv Gandhi had nothing whatsoever to do with this, it was proved not once, but many times over," said Khurshid.

"We are not going to qualify that and accept a qualification regarding the party or anybody else as a kind of an exchange of concessions. We know and we have known all along that there is not even a shred of evidence against our leaders," he added.

Meanwhile, Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader D.P. Tripathi said that he was not fully aware about the latest revelations that are made in the Bofors case.

"I can't really comment on this as I am not fully aware of the latest revelations that have taken place. What is important is that as far as Rajiv Gandhi is concerned, it is proved that he is not guilty of taking bribes. This is what is significant," he said.

Senior Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader, however, said all that was visible was not true, and added that there was more to the Bofors case.

"Many things, which are open and many things which are closed. If you analyse the whole thing then you will raise the question as to why certain names were not given. Why those names were kept secret? And once when those secrets are out you will know," Joshi said.

In an interview that has appeared on the website hoot.org, former Swedish police chief Sten Lindstrom has owned up to being the person (Sweden's Deep Throat) who leaked over 350 documents to Indian journalist Chitra Subramanian, who broke the story.

Lindstrom has revealed that there was no evidence to suggest that former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi had taken bribe in the Bofors deal.

However, he did not seem to have done much to prevent the cover up that followed in both India and Sweden to protect main accused Ottavio Quattrocchi, against whom, says Lindstrom, there was conclusive evidence.

Lindstrom also gives a clean chit to Bollywood actor Amitabh Bachchan and his family, saying that the story against them was planted in Swedish newspaper Dagens Nyheter by Indian investigators.

"They gave me a list of names to pursue, including the name of Amitabh Bachchan... During that trip to Sweden, the Indian investigators planted the Bachchan angle on DN," he says.

The Bofors case dates back to 1986, when Swiss arms manufacturer Bofors landed a 15 billion dollar contract to supply Howitzer Guns to India. A year later, Swiss media began reporting that the company had paid massive kickbacks to Indian politicians and defence officials. (ANI)