`Govt direction to delete Rajiv’s name legally impermissible’

NEW DELHI, DEC 1: Any Government direction to delete the name of Rajiv Gandhi from the CBI chargesheet in the Bofors gun deal case was legally "impermissible" and would amount to an interference with the course of investigation and presentation, Attorney General Soli Sorabjee has told the Government.

"In my opinion, having regard to the well-settled legal position as declared by the Supreme Court, it would not be open to the Government to direct or seek from the investigating agency deletion of the name of one of the accused named in Column-II in the chargesheet," Sorabjee has said in a statement tabled in the Lok Sabha by Union Home Minister L K Advani.

His opinion was sought by the Government on the demand raised by Congress to delete the name of former premier Rajiv Gandhi from Column-II of the chargesheet.

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"Any such direction or action by the Government would amount to an interference with the course of investigation and prosecution by the agency, viz the CBI, and would be impermissible in law," the Attorney General said.

"The remedy, if any, of any person legally aggrieved by the inclusion of the name of late Rajiv Gandhi in Column-II of the chargesheet would lie in an appropriate court of law," he said.