Rafale Deal "Largest Defence Scam" In India's History: Prashant Bhushan
MUMBAI: Calling Rafale deal the "largest defence scam that the country has seen", lawyer and activist Prashant Bhushan today hoped the CBI would act on the complaint made by him and two others against Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the matter.
Speaking at an event organised by the Mumbai Press Club, the Supreme Court lawyer said if the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) failed to follow due process and register a preliminary enquiry (PE) or an FIR, he will take the case to the court.
A PE is the first step of a probe by the CBI where the agency assesses whether the allegations have enough material for registering an FIR.
The Rs. 58,000-crore Rafale fighter jet deal has been at the centre of a raging political row with the Congress accusing the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government of wrongdoing. The government has rejected all allegations.
Responding to questions on whether the Rafale deal was similar to the Bofors scam of the 1980s, he said the present defence agreement with France was a much more serious and greater cause of concern.
"This (the Rafale deal) isn't merely a matter of securing commission for a particular company, as was the case in Bofors. This is the largest defence scam that the country has seen," Mr Bhushan said.
"To begin with, it deals with much more money. It left the Indian Air Force high and dry, and by securing offset contracts for Anil Ambani's new company that has no experience in building fighter aircraft, it also puts our national security at risk," he said.
On October 4, Mr Bhushan, former BJP minister Yashwant Sinha and senior journalist Arun Shourie submitted a written complaint to the CBI over the Rafale deal. The complaint named PM Modi and former Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar.
It urged the CBI to register a PE against them on various charges under the Prevention of Corruption Act for a range of alleged offences committed in April 2015 in the course of buying 36 Rafale jets from French firm Dassault Aviation.
In the complaint, Mr Bhushan and the others questioned how Anil Ambani's Reliance Defence, an Indian offset partner of Dassault, could be involved in the deal as it had no prior experience in the field and most other companies of the industrialist "were in debt".
"We are yet to hear from the CBI. If due process is followed, the CBI should register an FIR based on the complaint. However, if that doesn't happen then we'll take the matter to court," Mr Bhushan said.
In September 2016, India signed an inter-governmental agreement with France to buy the jets, the delivery of which is slated to begin from September 2019.
Mr Bhushan alleged that while the government had refused to reveal the per plane rate, the deal was over priced and that the French firm had been made to chose Reliance Defence at the insistence of the prime minister.
Mr Bhushan said the initial plan was to get 126 aircrafts. While 30 per cent of these were to be made by Dassault, the rest were to be made here in India by the state-run Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd (HAL), he said.
In his complaint, he has alleged that just months before the deal was finalised, the then Foreign Secretary, S Jaishankar, had said HAL would be involved in the process of getting the 126 aircrafts.
"It is significant that Mr Modi chose to keep the IAF, HAL, the Foreign Ministry, and even the Defence Ministry in the dark about his impending designs," the complaint reads.
Last month, a French media outlet quoted former President Francois Hollande as saying his government "did not have a say" in choosing Reliance for the deal since the Indian government had proposed the private company's name.
However, both Dassault and the French government have denied any such imposition. Dassault has said it had freely chosen to partner with Reliance to fulfill its offset requirements as part of the deal.
Anil Ambani has already emphasised that the government had no role in Dassault picking up his company as a local partner.
He had written to Congress president Rahul Gandhi on December 12, 2017, refuting allegations of his company lacking experience to bag the deal.
Anil Ambani had written that Reliance Defence, with the largest shipyard in the private sector at Pipavav in Gujarat, was currently building five Naval Offshore Patrol Vessels (NOPVs) for the Indian Navy and 14 Fast Patrol Vessels for the Indian Coast Guard.
The Congress has been raising several questions about the deal, including on the rates, and has accused the Modi government of compromising national interest and security while causing a loss to the public exchequer.
Courtesy: www.ndtv.com
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India's Got Latent remarks row: SC orders return of passport to Ranveer Allahbadia
New Delhi, Apr 28 (PTI): The Supreme Court on Monday allowed the return of passport to podcaster Ranveer Allahbadia to enable him to travel abroad for work.
A bench of Justices Surya Kant and N Kotiswar Singh relaxed the condition after Assam and Maharashtra governments said the investigation against him was complete.
The bench asked Allahbadia to approach the Maharashtra cyber police bureau to retrieve his passport.
The top court told Allahbadia's lawyer, senior advocate Abhinav Chandrachud, it would consider his prayer to club the FIRs against his client and bring it in one place on the next hearing.
Chandrachud said the Maharashtra FIR was the first one on the issue and the Guwahati FIR could be clubbed with it as it stemmed from the same facts and incident.
Justice Kant, however, told Chandrachud the Guwahati FIR comprised a different set of allegations, specific to people of Assam.
"If you want to argue on the issue, then we will hear it on the next date of hearing and you can make out case then," the judge said.
The bench also allowed NGO Cure SMA Foundation of India to implead "India's Got Latent" host Samay Raina and other co-accused through the police of Maharashtra and Assam, as their statements were recorded in the case.
Senior advocate Aprajita Singh, representing the NGO, said they were not able to implead Raina and others in the case as respondents for want of their addresses and requested the bench to allow them to be made parties even without their particulars.
The NGO referred to deficiencies in the existing legal framework and urged the bench to formulate guidelines on online content.
The comprehensive guidelines and regulatory measures were sought to regulate any "derogatory, denigrating, ableist and belittling content against the persons with disability, their diseases and their treatment options" by stakeholders, including but not limited to "publishers of online curated content, publishers of news and current affairs content, self-styled influencers and content creators, broadcasters, intermediaries" among others.
The NGO said while it did not intend to seek a blanket restraint, it was concerned with derogatory content on persons with disabilities.
"Notably, this requires maintaining the highest degree of sensitivity and compassion across the channels, however, that becomes a mammoth task when certain individuals, like the comedian, Samay Raina, host a comedy show and make insensitive commentaries on persons such with such condition, the high-costing drugs and the treatment options," it said.
The NGO's plea said Raina's act in turn deprecated the public mindset, often resulting in perpetuating lack of receptivity towards the seriousness of the illness, or the ensuing challenges in the resource management.
On February 18, the top court protected Allahbadia from arrest in multiple FIRs filed over his comments during a YouTube show and directed him to deposit his passport with the investigating officer of Police Station Nodal Cyber Police, Thane.
On March 3, it allowed Allahbadia to resume his podcast "The Ranveer Show" subject to maintaining "morality and decency" and making it suitable for viewers of all ages.
Allahbadia, popularly known as BeerBiceps, was booked for his comments on parents and sex on an episode of India's Got Latent.
The apex court initially restrained Allahbadia from airing any programme of his podcast having a "direct or an indirect" bearing on the merits of the sub-judice cases against him.
On February 18, the top court granted interim protection from arrest to Allahbadia and termed his comments "vulgar" and accused him of having a "dirty mind".
Aside from Allahbadia and Raina, others named in the case in Assam are comics Ashish Chanchlani, Jaspreet Singh and Apoorva Makhija.
