Prithviraj Chavan demands FIR in Rafale deal

Congress leader and former Maharashtra Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan on Friday said that Justice KM Joseph's concurrent but separate judgment in the Supreme Court verdict dismissing review petitions in Rafale deal has "opened a new door" for an investigation into the case.

He demanded registration of FIR over the Rafale controversy.

Chavan said Justice Joseph has stated that it was neither appropriate nor within the experience of the court to step into the investigative arena on the Rafale deal and the CBI was equipped to undertake investigations.

He said some amendments were made to the Prevention of Corruption Act last year according to which if an investigative agency is carrying out an inquiry against a public servant, it has to take prior permission.

"We demand that an FIR should be registered in this case and a process of seeking permission from the public servants who need to be inquired should begin," Chavan said.

He also called for a joint parliamentary committee probe into the Rafale controversy.

On Thursday, the Supreme Court had dismissed the review petitions challenging its verdict in the Rafale case on December 14, 2018.

A three-judge bench presided by Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi and comprising Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul and Justice Joseph had passed the order on a batch of petitions seeking review of its December 14, 2018 verdict which had upheld the purchase of 36 Rafale jets by the Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led government from France.

The top court had also accepted Congress leader Rahul Gandhi's apology for bringing in the court ruling in relation to his "chowkidar chor hai" remark in the Rafale case and said that a person holding a place of importance in political spectrum should have been more careful.

The Congress, however, has said that verdict makes it clear that the Supreme Court has limited jurisdiction to go into the technical questions of price, contractual details and technical specifications of the Rafale deal.

The party said the court has also made it clear "that an independent agency specifically the CBI was fully equipped to undertake all forms of investigation without any restrictions".