Chadha seeks recall of warrants

Chadha’s counsel in an application alleged that the CBI had misrepresented the facts about Chadha’s alleged refusal to answer the summons on December 14.

Chadha has prayed to the court to issue the summons, to be served as per the procedure.

Chadha’s application, as well as the CBI’s application to retain the Swiss bank papers, will be heard on January 3, 2000.

Chadha’s counsel Ritu Singh Mann said that Chadha “is ready and willing to come to India to face trial”. The counsel said that Chadha was neither contacted by the CBI nor was any message left for him regarding the summons issued by the court. She added that the issuance of the arrest warrants had caused him tremendous “mental agony” and “damage to his reputation”.

Chadha has asked the court to direct the CBI not to arrest him on his arrival in India and has sought medical treatment of his choice.

Meanwhile, the third and final set of the documents — numbering D-1 to D-71 — and a letter dated August 31, 1999 from a Geneva court, directing the Swiss Federal Office at Berne to give the papers to the Indian agency, were brought to the court by the CBI officials.

The documents, brought to Delhi, were presented in a sealed cover before District Judge M A Khan, in the absence of the designated judge, Ajit Bharihoke. The District Judge asked the CBI to wait till the court holidays were over and then put up the application before the judge concerned.

The investigating agency moved an application seeking permission to retain the papers to study them and ascertain whether further investigation was necessary or not.

The court, however, retained the documents and said, “There is no urgency and the application be put up before special Judge Bharihoke on January 3, 2000.”

CBI sources said scrutiny of these documents was expected to take about two weeks and additional chargesheets would be filed depending on what they reveal.

After four years of legal wrangles, the initial set of the secret Swiss bank documents relating to alleged kickbacks in the Rs 1,437 crore gun deal in 1986 between India and Swedish company AB Bofors were handed over to the Indian authorities in Berne on January 21, 1997.

The documents, which were brought to India by the then CBI Director Joginder Singh, ran into over 500 pages.