Former ministers Yashwant Sinha and Arun Shourie and senior lawyer in Supreme Court Prashant Bhushan said the SC’s Thursday’s judgement on Rafale has paved the way for further investigation in the Rafale deal.

Terming the deal as a “monumental corruption scandal”, the trio said the court has negatived the “false perception” created by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Centre that no investigation by CBI was possible in the complaints against the deal.

The trio told reporters here at a press conference on Friday that it has been over a year since a complaint was submitted to the then Director of CBI Alok Verma and they said that the present Director, Rishi Kumar Shukla, should seek necessary approval from the competent authority under Section 17A to begin the inquiry into the complaint according to the judgement.

They said they had sought action against Prime Minister Narendra Modi and businessman Anil Ambani under the Prevention of Corruption Act.

“We were compelled to move court because the CBI, obviously under government pressure did not register a FIR on our complaint and as the Supreme Court asked the government to submit details of the ‘decision making process’ in a sealed cover on two other bogus petitions which ideally ought to have been dismissed at the outset,” they added. They said that documents and facts available in public domain necessitate an investigation into their complaint.

“We thank the Supreme Court for clearing the way for the CBI to seek approval of the government under Section 17A for proceeding in that direction,” said the leaders.

PTI reports

The Delhi BJP protested near the Congress headquarters here on Friday against the “baseless allegations” levelled by the opposition party in the Rafale jet deal.

The protesters tried to march towards the Congress head office on Akbar Road in Central Delhi but were detained by police and taken to a police station.

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