Court adjourns hearing on CBI's withdrawal of Bofors case

A Delhi Court deferred pronouncement of its order by five months on a plea of a lawyer objecting to CBI's move to withdraw the two-decade-old Bofors pay-off case against Italian businessman Ottavio Quattrocchi.

A Delhi Court on Friday deferred pronouncement of its order by five months on a plea of a lawyer objecting to CBI's move to withdraw the two-decade-old Bofors pay-off case against Italian businessman Ottavio Quattrocchi.

Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Kaveri Baweja, who was to deliver the order on Friday, adjourned the matter till March 31, 2010, saying the court did not have the original documents as those have been sent to the Supreme Court.

"The file containing original chargesheet and original documents have been sent to the Supreme Court in February, 2006, and the same have not been received back till date. I am afraid no order can be passed on the applications in the absence of original records," CMM Baweja said.

The court had on October 24 also deferred its order on the issue till today.

The lawyer, Ajay Agarwal, had challenged CBI's move to withdraw the case on October three, saying it was trying to close the "politically sensitive" case despite having "sufficient evidence" against him.

CBI had sought burial of the case against Quattrocchi, 69, on the ground that "continuance of his prosecution will be unjustified".

The agency had said it arrived at the conclusion after its failure to extradite the businessman, who never appeared before any court in the country, from Malaysia in 2003 and from Argentina in 2007 to face trial.