New Delhi, Jan 22: Dashing the hopes of the three Hinduja brothers for an early exit from India, a Designated Court today allowed CBI to interrogate them till January 30 in connection with their alleged role in the Rs 64 crore Bofors pay-off case.The order came after CBI Investigating Officer (I O) Keshav Mishra told Special Judge Ajit Bharihoke that the agency has so far interrogated the Hinduja Group chairman S P Hinduja and would require at least one week's time to conclude questioning of G P Hinduja and P P Hinduja.Adjourning hearing of the application filed by Hindujas seeking permission to go out of the country till January 30, Bharihoke said "the I O has further stated that by his assessment he may be able to conclude their interrogation within a week or so."Today's CBI stand represented a change from its earlier position when it had told the court on Friday that it would require the Hindujas for questioning only for three to four days. Since then the CBI has questioned only the eldest of the three brothers.Earlier, Mishra told the court that "CBI has partly interrogated S P Hinduja and the agency will require time for his further interrogation as well as that of the other two brothers."The judge also perused the case diary made available by the agency, which started interrogating S P Hinduja from Saturday afternoon and continued all through Sunday till this morning.The Hindujas, after appearing before the court on Friday, were granted bail but were restrained from going out of the country without its prior permission. They had immediately moved an application seeking permission to go out of the country citing urgent business commitments abroad.Counsel for Hindujas, Arvind Nigam, today said if the questioning of any of the Hinduja brothers was completed before January 30, he be permitted to go out of the country.The court said, "You are free to move an application in this regard anytime."Nigam said, "Hindujas would prefer to do so but the problem is that the case instead of being tried by this court is being tried by media" and wanted the court to take note of the fact that the Hindujas have voluntarily submitted themselves for questioning. The judge recorded that Hindujas have offered themselves for questioning pursuant to the order of the court.A CBI official today made a sceptic remark about the progress made in the questioning so far."They are behaving nicely and so are we. But the task before us is to find the truth and for that we will continue the interrogation," the official said.Asked whther CBI would complete the interrogation of the Hindujas by January 30, he said "If not, then we would seek court's permission for more time to interrogate them."
