Supreme Court dismisses CBI's appeal in Bofors case

New Delhi: The Supreme Court Friday dismissed the CBI's appeal against the Delhi High Court's 2005 verdict discharging all the accused, including Hinduja brothers, in the politically-sensitive Rs 64 crore Bofors pay-off case.

A bench headed by Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi rejected the CBI plea seeking condonation of the 13-year delay in filing the appeal against the May 31, 2005 judgement of the high court.

It said it was not convinced with the grounds of the CBI to condone over 4,500 days' delay in filing the appeal. The CBI had filed the appeal on February 2 this year.

The apex court, however, said the CBI could raise all grounds in the appeal against the same high court verdict filed by advocate Ajay Agrawal who has also challenged the judgement.Attorney General K K Venugopal asked the top court to make it clear in its order that dismissal of CBI appeal would not preclude the probe agency from investigating the case.