Hearing deferred on CBI's move to close Quattrochi case

A city court on Saturday deferred till May 15 a decision on a plea to stop the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) from closing the two-decade-old Bofors payoff case against Italian businessman Ottavio Quattrochi.

A city court on Saturday deferred till May 15 a decision on a plea to stop the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) from closing the two-decade-old Bofors payoff case against Italian businessman Ottavio Quattrochi.

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Metropolitan Magistrate Sandeep Garg adjourned the case after Additional Solicitor General P P Malhotra submitted that the original records related to the case were still in the custody of the Supreme Court.

Advocate Ajay Agrawal, who had moved the court against CBI's action to withdraw the case on Oct 3 last year, filed some additional records to prove his objection over the CBI's decision.

Quattrochi, the sole surviving accused in the case after the Delhi High Court quashed the charges against others May 31, 2005, has never appeared before any Indian court.

The CBI failed on two occasions to get Quattrochi extradited -- first from Malaysia in 2003 and then from Argentina in 2007.

In November last year, the CBI asked Interpol to take Quattrochi's name off its Red Corner notice list.