145;We expected them to be fair146;

For CBI Director P C Sharma, the rejection of the request for Ottavio Quattrocchi8217;s extradition was much more of a setback than the new...

For CBI Director P C Sharma, the rejection of the request for Ottavio Quattrocchi8217;s extradition was much more of a setback than the news that Anees Ibrahim had received bail in Dubai. The reason is not far to seek: Sharma has been spearheading the Bofors investigation for years, and regards that, more than any other international investigation, as the CBI8217;s acid test. Excerpts from an interview with Ritu Sarin:

Friday must have been your worst day as CBI director, considering the developments in Kuala Lumpur and Dubai?
Why a bad day? We tried our best. I do feel disappointed and disturbed about Quattrocchi8217;s extradition request being turned down, but we cannot be faulted on this. But the court decision is surprising and I do feel bad. I say this because we had furnished all the evidence and proved all our claims. We expected them to be fair with us. We were never given a chance to prove our case and that is why I am surprised.

They did not go into our case on Quattrocchi at all. How can they dismiss the appeal just on technical grounds?
CBI Director PC Sharma

How will Quattrocchi8217;s absence affect the Bofors trial, considering that the charges against him were to be heard separately?
He is one of the accused who is to face trial. Even if he isn8217;t here, the trial will go on.

With the Supreme Court8217;s intervention, even the trial is in jeopardy. Are you confident about the trial against the three Hinduja brothers in Delhi?
We are hopeful. We have filed our rejoinder in the Supreme Court and will know the outcome on the next date of hearing. Quattrocchi is important to prove the conspiracy and all our evidence and documentation is in place.

But Kuala Lumpur High Court judge Augustine Paul dismissed India8217;s appeal, also saying the extradition case we presented was technically weak. Your comments.How can one cite technical grounds? That is what I feel bad about. They simply did not consider the case on merit. They have not gone into the details of our case against him at all. This is why we are distressed.

The Dubai authorities have been changing their stand on sending Anees Ibrahim back to India. Considering he is one of the main accused in the 1993 serial blasts case and Dawood Ibrahim8217;s brother, isn8217;t this a major setback?
He is a very important accused from out point of view and we are hoping the cooperation extended by the Dubai authorities over three other wanted men 8212; led by Aftab Ansari 8212; will carry over to this case. Even if he is out on bail, it does not mean our extradition request will not get a hearing. I am in regular touch with our Ambassador in Dubai and am still confident of a breakthrough.

How is the international climate and agencies like the FBI helping India8217;s case?
The international climate is very favourable. As far as the FBI is concerned, they didn8217;t help us at all in detaining Abu Salem. That was all our work. But we did share information with them on Anees Ibrahim8217;s profile and activities both pre- and post-arrest. And let me tell you, we have been getting full co-operation from the Portuguese government. It is just that their style of functioning is different from that of the UAE government.

On what do you base your optimism about the Anees case, given that the Dubai authorities did not even inform you immediately about his detention?
They told us a day after he was arrested. We did not go public immediately because such things are best tackled without too much publicity. The news leaked out many days after he was detained. Now, we have been formally asked to send our extradition request, which we will be doing.

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And you managed to send Lisbon the extradition request for Abu Salem only on Friday. Where has the CBI gone wrong in preparing these requests?
We haven8217;t gone wrong. It is just that filing a extradition request needs a lot of preparation. The only procedures are the bottlenecks.

There has been criticism about how, for example, we didn8217;t have Anees Ibrahim8217;s fingerprints to send to Dubai though he had been arrested in Mumbai earlier. Isn8217;t this a slip-up?
Fingerprints can be located and they are not that essential. They form part of evidence which buttresses the case.

What is the CBI8217;s gameplan now?
Everything is not in our hands since these people are detained or living abroad. We can only send well-researched requests. The rest depends upon the co-operation we get from other governments.