Wednesday, June 1 2005 18:46 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

New Delhi: Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) today (Jun 1, 2005) attacked the judgement of Delhi High Court quashing charges against Europe-based Hinduja brothers as a "glaring example of judicial burial of a corruption case" and alleged that it had been catalysed by "collusion" between the "powerful accused" and CBI "pressurised" by the political executive.

BJP spokesman and former Law Minister Arun Jaitley alleged at a press conference that the CBI had been "pressurised" by successive Congress Governments to "sabotage the investigation" in the high-profile case.

"This is not a judgement on merits. It does not hold that kickbacks were not paid. It proceeds on a mere premise that documents proving bribery and kickbacks were contained in certified copies," he alleged.

Alleging that the reasoning contained in the judgement is "questionable", Jaitley said it is a glaring example of a judicial burial of a corruption case which had shaken the conscience of the entire nation."

He said the ruling was "an unfortunate end catalysed by collusion between an investigative agency, pressurised by the political executive, and the powerful accused in the case."

The noted lawyer also wondered how the court discovered that Rs 250 crore were spent on the investigation and insisted that only a "miniscule fraction" of the amount had actually been spent on the probe.

"With the Prevention of Corruption Act no longer invocable with the deletion of public servants, Delhi High Court has now put the final burial on the case," Jaitley said.

He charged that the reasoning in the judgement was based amongst others on "concessions by the Government and CBI lawyers."

Alleging that there have been at least five judicial pronouncements which have "enabled the scuttling of the case", he said the case "throws up vital issues relating to probity in public life."

According to Jaitley, frequent change of Government adds to the uncertainty of the investigation and "eventually judicial obstacles to trial are created".

"There have been three earlier occasions where the judgements preventing investigation and trial were rendered by the Delhi High Court but on each occasion they were reversed by the Supreme Court," the BJP general secretary said.

Referring to yesterday's judgement and the February 4, 2004 judgement of Justice J D Kapoor of Delhi High Court quashing charges against public servants, Jaitley alleged, "There is a clear collusion between the investigative agency and the accused."

He alleged, "Judgements may be erroneous, they please the accused. They please the political masters who run the Central Government and the CBI obviously may decide to let the erroneous judgements stay."

"This is a sad reflection on our political, investigative and judicial process," he said.

He demanded the CBI clarify whether it will challenge the judgement and how much money was spent on investigations into the case.