SC's Rafale ruling calls for JPC probe; BJP celebrating prematurely: Rahul

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Thursday said the Supreme Court verdict has opened a "huge door" into investigation of the "Rafale scam" and demanded a Joint Parliamentary Committee probe into the fighter jet deal.

Gandhi tweeted: "Justice Joseph of the Supreme Court has opened a huge door into investigation of the RAFALE scam. An investigation must now begin in full earnest. A Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) must also be set up to probe this scam," he posted.

The Congress party also said the BJP has been celebrating the Rafale verdict without studying the judgement properly and added that through its verdict the Supreme Court had "opened the gates for investigation" of the fighter jet deal by agencies.

"The BJP has a habit of celebrating without studying the judgements. The Supreme Court in the Rafale case today opened the gates for investigation by agencies, as it accepted that the issues of feasibility, technical specifications and price of the jets does not come under its purview under Article 32," said Congress spokesperson Randeep Singh Surjewala at a press conference.

The Congress alleged that the BJP was "misleading the nation" on the Rafale judgement and said that they should allow CBI to investigate the Rafale deal case "without any political pressure".

Earlier, the Supreme Court on Thursday dismissed a review petition seeking a probe into the Rafale deal. Justice S.K. Kaul while reading the judgement said that the review petition is without merit.

The top court dismissed a plea seeking lodging of an FIR to probe the Rafale deal inked with Dassault Aviation. The court also closed contempt proceedings initiated against Congress leader Rahul Gandhi and said that being an important political person, Rahul must remain more careful in future.

Contempt proceeding was initiated against Rahul Gandhi for his remark "Chowkidar Chor Hai", attributing it to the Prime Minister.

A bench of Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi and Justices S.K. Kaul and K.M. Joseph said that Rahul Gandhi, being a person holding a place of importance in the political spectrum, should have been more careful before attributing to the top court certain things which were not part of the order.