Rafale case: No ground to order FIR, says top court; review petition dismissed

Manglore Today News Network

New Delhi, Nov 14, 2019: The Supreme Court has dismissed petition seeking review of its 2018 judgment on the Rafale deal. A bench comprising Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi and Justices SK Kaul and KM Joseph said there was no ground to order an FIR in the matter, Yahoo reported.

 

 The top court had reserved the verdict on the deal in May this year. Former Union ministers, Yashwant Sinha and Arun Shourie, and activist lawyer Prashant Bhushan had filed the review petitions urging the court to set aside its December 14, 2018, verdict. The court had last year dismissed their plea for a criminal investigation into the Rafale deal. The deal was even made an election issue by the Congress and other opposition parties citing corruption. However, the government countered the charges aggressively and won the elections. The opposition failed to articulate the alleged scam in the deal to the people.

The Rafale fighter is a twin-engine Medium Multi-Role Combat Aircraft (MMRCA). It is manufactured by French aerospace company Dassault Aviation. India signed an agreement with France for the purchase of 36 Rafale fighter aircraft in a fly-away condition. The estimated cost of the deal is Rs 58,000 crore.