New Delhi: The Delhi High Court today (Feb 4, 2004) upheld the decision of a Special Court to frame cheating and conspiracy charges against three Hinduja brothers in the Rs 65 crore Bofors payoff case, but quashed charges against them under the Prevention of Corruption Act. The court also upheld the charges of fabrication of documents under Section 465 of the Indian Penal Code against Swedish company A B Bofors which supplied the Howitzer Field 155MM guns.

Justice J D Kapoor, after delivering the judgement, directed that all relevant files be sent to the court of chief metropolitan magistrate instead of the Sessions Court which was trying the case.

A magistrate is empowered to try the offence of cheating and conspiracy.

The court fixed February 23 for commencement of the trial before the magisterial court.

Europe-based Hinduja brothers - Srichand, Gopichand and Prakashchand - had challenged the November 2002 order of the trial court on the ground that there was no material on record to prove their involvement in the Rs 1,437 crore deal.

A B Bofors, now known as Kartongen Kemi Och Forvaltning A B, also sought quashing of the charges on the ground that a body corporate could not be prosecuted for conspiracy as it did not have a mind of its own.

The Indian Government had signed the deal with the Swedish arms manufacturer in March 1986 for the supply of 400 Howitzer field guns for the Army on the condition that there would be no middlemen involved.

The CBI filed two chargesheets in the case. In its first chargesheet filed in October 1999, it named the then Defence Secretary S K Bhatnagar, Bofors agent W N Chadha, Italian businessman Ottavio Quattrocchi, the Bofors company and its then chief Martin Ardbo as accused.

A year later, CBI filed another chargesheet against the Hinduja brothers accusing them of having received about Rs 14 crore from Bofors as commission in the deal.