Congress defends Rajiv Gandhi as ghost of Bofors returns

The ghost of Bofors returned to haunt the Congress following new revelations by Sten Lindstorm, the man who blew the lid off the defence corruption case. The Congress on Wednesday claimed that the party had always raised the question of Ottavio Quattrocchi while defending former prime minister late Rajiv Gandhi and said that the issue should be closed.

"This has been proved again that Rajivji was innocent. This is an issue which has traumatised nation, hurt the family of Rajiv and Congressmen. This issue should be closed now," Law Minister Salman Khurshid said. While the BJP said it would raise the Bofors pay-offs issue in Parliament, Khurshid said that the Opposition should read the judgements of the Supreme Court and High Court on the case clearly. "The BJP should read the judgements of the Supreme Court and the High Court. I don't want to get into their trap," Khurshid said. The Law Minister also sought a public apology from all those making wild allegations against Rajiv Gandhi for the past many years and tarnishing his image and hurting his family members. "There was a detailed investigation and there were Supreme Court and High Court proceedings that took place and the decision that came endorsed those proceedings. I don't think we can continue to reopen these issues...We don't want a new chapter to be opened. The final decision of the Supreme Court should not be reopened," Khurshid said. "It is a matter of regret that without having any proof, such serious charges were levelled (against Rajiv Gandhi). The same people are not ready to feel sorry even today. They should apologise before the public," said Khurshid. Even as the Congress defended itself, the Opposition trained guns on the partyw with the Left and the BJP demanding a fresh investigation into the case. CPI leader Gurudas Dasgupta accused the government of having no political will to expose the guilty. "It is very deplorable. It is a slur on the image of the country. It only means that the investigation procedure was false and government had no political will to identify who actually was behind the malpractice," he said. Addressing a media conference, BJP spokesperson Rajiv Pratap Rudy said, "The way Quattrocchi was helped to move out of the country gave a clear indication of the government's intention. We have always raised the question on Quattrocchi." Another senior BJP leader, Murli Manohar Joshi, said that the government must look into the issue again, alleging that several people were yet to be named. He said that the names must come out. In an interview that appeared on website thehoot.org, former Swedish Police chief Sten Lindstrom owned up to being the informant of journalist Chitra Subramanian who had broken the story. Lindstrom had operated under the pseudonym Swedish Deep Throat. The case involved illegal pay-offs and had rocked both India and Sweden in the late 1980s. Breaking his silence on Wednesday, Lindstrom said there was no evidence to show that former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi had taken a bribe in the Bofors deal. However, he said Gandhi didn't stop the cover-up to protect main accused Ottavio Quattrocchi. Lindstrom said, "Ardbo, (Bofors managing director), had written in his notes that the identity of N (Arun Nehru) becoming public was a minor concern but at no cost could the identity of Q (Quattrocchi) be revealed because of his closeness to R (Rajiv Gandhi)." He further said that the case against actor and then Congress MP Amitabh Bachchan and his family was planted in a Swedish newspaper Dagens Nyheter by Indian investigators.