Congress Bureau of Investigation

Two days after The Indian Express broke the story of the CBI allowing Bofors-accused Ottavio Quattrocchi to go scot free by asking Interpol to withdraw the Red Corner Notice (RCN) for him, the investigative agency posted a backgrounder on its website to educate people on Interpol and RCNs. Ironically, the backgrounder makes it clear that the CBI violated the rules while allowing Quattrocchi to get away. The notice, under the heading ‘General Information About Red Corner Notice’ reads, ‘RCN is issued by Interpol Headquarters, Lyon (France), to all member-countries of Interpol at the request of a member country.

The requesting country makes such a request when the fugitive wanted by it is suspected to be abroad and the competent court has issued a valid arrest warrant against the fugitive.’ Here’s the problem: The arrest warrant issued against Quattrocchi by a Delhi court was still valid when the CBI asked Interpol to delete his name from the most-wanted list. The CBI did not approach the court to get the warrant quashed and, instead, just went by the law ministry’s view on the subject.