Attorney General KK Venugopal tells SC that petitioners submitted stolen classified documents on Rafale deal
The government has sought rejection of review petition in Rafale deal case. A bench led by the Chief Justice of India, Ranjan Gogoi, today heard petitions seeking a review of the Supreme Court’s judgement giving a clean chit to the government on the Rafale fighter jets deal.
The plea was filed by former finance minister Yashwant Sinha, journalist-turned-politician Arun Shourie and activist-lawyer Prashant Bhushan, among others. While hearing the petition, the Court said it won’t look into any supplementary affidavits or other documents not filed before it.
Bhushan had submitted new documents, given by the Hindu Editor N Ram, informing the court that critical facts on Rafale were suppressed when petition for lodging FIR and investigation were filed. Attorney General K K Venugopal countered that the documents relied upon by the advocate were stolen from the Defence ministry, adding that related investigation was underway. However, the CJI replied that hearing Bhushan did not mean the court was taking the documents on record .
The AG added that the documents were marked secret and classified, and in violation of Official Secrets Act. He said that today’s “The Hindu” report on Rafale, amounts to influencing the hearing and is itself contempt of court.
The AG also sought dismissal of Rafale review petition and perjury application as they relied on stolen documents, adding that those who put documents on Rafale deal in public domain guilty under Official Secrets Act and contempt of court. The court will hear what action has been taken on the theft of the documents in the post lunch session .
