Chadha ready to face trial in Bofors case, seeks recall of NBW

The application will be taken up for hearing on January 3 as the special judge Ajit Bharihoke, who is trying the case, is on leave.

The counsel Ritu Singh Mann said in the application that Chadha was neither contacted by the CBI nor any message was left for him regarding the summons issued by this court.

She said the issuance of the arrest warrant had caused him tremendous "mental agony" and "damage to reputation".

Chadha in his application sought, besides withdrawal of the NBW, fresh summons to him through the proper channel, direction to Indian authorities for fresh passport and to CBI not to arrest him on his arrival in India and medical treatment of his choice.

The application said, "The prosecution has deliberately refrained from stating in clear terms that nobody spoke to the applicant regarding the summons or that the summons were not served upon the applicant".

The court while issuing the warrants against him had said, "It appears that Chadha was aware of the summons and the date of the hearing and despite that he has not turned up in the court, though he is an Indian national".

The court order came in the wake of the submissions made by CBI that the embassy had forwarded a letter of intimation to Chadha, "but instead of receiving the summons, he returned it saying he has gone away".

The application said that Chadha did not receive the summons as the Indian consulate did not follow certain laws of the UAE while issuing them.

It said that Chadha’s lawyer had also informed the Indian consulate that "they were disregarding laws and regulations of the UAE and requested them to follow the rules".