Soon after a leading daily publishes an article pertaining to the deal, govt threatens it with the Official Secrets Act
A Dassault Rafale fighter aircraft displayed at the Aero India 2019 airshow at the Yelahanka Air Force Station in Bangalore on February 24, 2019. File pic/AFP
The government on Wednesday told the Supreme Court that documents related to the Rafale aircraft deal have been stolen from the Defence Ministry and threatened The Hindu newspaper with the Official Secrets Act for publishing articles based on them.
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Those who put documents on the Rafale deal in the public domain are guilty under the Official Secrets Act and contempt of court, Attorney General K K Venugopal said before a three-judge bench headed by Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi.
A probe into the theft is on, the attorney general said on a day the newspaper published another article on the fighter jet deal. The bench, also including Justices S K Kaul and K M Joseph, was hearing a batch of petitions seeking a review of its December 14 verdict dismissing all the pleas against the deal procured by India from France.
Former Union ministers Yashwant Sinha and Arun Shourie and advocate Prashant Bhushan, who had jointly filed a petition, alleged that the Centre suppressed crucial facts when the apex court decided to dismiss the batch of PILs against the Rafale deal in December.
Time to lodge FIR against PM: Cong
The Congress alleged corruption and malfeasance in the Rafale deal and said the time has come to lodge an FIR against Modi. "The corruption in Rafale deal is out in the open. Modi misused his office to give benefits to Dassault Aviation," Cong chief spokesperson said.
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