While the Agusta Westland scandal continues to rock Parliament, the Supreme Court on Friday asked the Centre and the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to respond to a petition seeking registration of FIR against political leaders, including Congress president Sonia Gandhi and former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, in connection with the controversial chopper deal.
Even as the Congress sought to put the onus on the NDA government by seeking a Supreme Court-monitored probe, a Bench of Justices Dipak Misra and Shiva Kirti Singh issued notice on a PIL petition filed by Supreme Court advocate Manohar Lal Sharma for an apex-court-appointed Special Investigation Team (SIT) to probe the deal for supply of 12 AW101 helicopters to ferry VVIPs, including the President and Prime Minister.
One of the questions the petition asks the Supreme Court is “whether reduction of helicopter’s altitude capacity from 6,000 metres to 4,500 metres to facilitate Italian suppliers is not a serious criminal offence compromising national security.”
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Mr. Sharma alleged that the CBI was “controlled” by the government and an independent probe could not be expected. “When a former Air Chief stands accused of having accepted bribes the least the government owed to the nation was an honest investigation into the scandal, which has the potential to grow bigger,” he said.