Opposition corners UPA Govt., demands re-opening of Bofors case

New Delhi, Apr 26 (ANI): Amid fresh allegations that former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi may have toned down the Bofors Gun deal probe to protect Italian businessman Ottavio Quattrocchi, the Bharatiya Janata party (BJP) and other opposition parties hit out at the Congress in parliament on Thursday over the issue.

"Bofors matter should not be closed because it signifies a saga of continuing corruption in the country," said BJP leader Jaswant Singh.

He further sought a judicial commission probe in the matter.

"To cleanse this poison from our system, please appoint judicial commission to probe this", he said.

The BJP earlier gives notice for the Suspension of Question hour in Parliament to discuss the new Bofors issue.

In an interview that appears on the website hoot.org, former Swedish police chief Sten Lindstrom has owned up to being the person (Sweden's Deep Throat) who leaked over 350 documents to Indian journalist Chitra Subramanian, who broke the story.

Lindstrom has revealed that there was no evidence to suggest that former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi had taken bribe in the Bofors deal.

However, he did not seem to have done much to prevent the cover up that followed in both India and Sweden to protect main accused Ottavio Quattrocchi, against whom, says Lindstrom, there was conclusive evidence.

Lindstrom also gives a clean chit to Bollywood actor Amitabh Bachchan and his family, saying that the story against them was planted in Swedish newspaper Dagens Nyheter by Indian investigators.

"They gave me a list of names to pursue, including the name of Amitabh Bachchan... During that trip to Sweden, the Indian investigators planted the Bachchan angle on DN," he says.

The Bofors case dates back to 1986, when Swiss arms manufacturer Bofors landed a 15 billion dollar contract to supply Howitzer Guns to India. A year later, Swiss media began reporting that the company had paid massive kickbacks to Indian politicians and defence officials. (ANI)