Spy story: Rajiv Gandhi hushed up Bofors probe

Apr 28, 2009

New Delhi: For 14 years, the Bofors arms deal scam has been an unfolding soap opera in Indian politics. The scam tainted the reputation of former prime ministers and many top politicians and the Gandhi family has been forever targetted for their links with main Bofors accused, Italian businessman Ottavio Quattrocchi.

Now, in a latest allegation, a former deputy chief of RAW -- India's External Intelligence Agency -- writes that former prime minister, Rajiv Gandhi, mounted a cover-up operation to hide the truth behind the infamous deal.

In his forthcoming book, The Kaoboys of R&AW, B Raman writes:

"He (Rajiv Gandhi) mounted a cover-up operation and personally got involved in the cover-up exercise. He also encouraged officials and others close to him to create pin-pricks for V P Singh, who was in the forefront of those against a cover-up. At the instance of Rajiv Gandhi, a Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) chaired by B Shankaranand, a Congress (I) MP, had been set up to inquire into the allegations of commission payments."

He further writes:

"The JPC had deputed to Geneva and London, a team of investigators. I got the impression that they met only those who had little or no knowledge of the Bofors payments and avoided meeting those, who claimed to have knowledge of the payments."

B Raman told CNN-IBN, "The cover up was done by Rajiv Gandhi with the help of a group of officials -- some of whom are now working in the PMO and some of whom belong to intelligence investigating agencies. Some are even from Indian diplomatic missions abroad."

Raman, one of the best intelligence officers India has had, says that the CBI officers never interrogated the right people during their foreign trips to get to the bottom of the Bofors scam and even dined with the accused Hinduja brothers -- whom they were supposed to interrogate.

He writes in his book:

"While visiting dignitaries thus started exercising caution about interactions with the Hindujas after their name cropped up in connection with the Bofors scandal, I did not notice any inhibitions coming in way of the interactions of senior officers of the Central Bureau of Investigation with the Hindujas during their visits to Geneva. Even after the scandal broke out, I had occassionally seen senior CBI officers having lunch with Prakash (Hinduja) or Srichand (Hinduja) or both in Geneva restaurants."

The book, which also exposes how German intelligence on Rajiv Gandhi's assassination plot was ignored, is expected to provide an insiders perspective of all that has gone wrong in India's sometimes amateurish intelligence efforts. 

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