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HC assails CBI for 'insufficient' affidavit

By Our Staff Reporter

NEW DELHI NOV. 20. The Delhi High Court today criticised the CBI for dithering on initiating a probe into an allegation that a huge quantity of smuggled antiques of Indian origin had been found in two shops in Italy allegedly owned by the sister of the Congress president, Sonia Gandhi.

Finding the CBI's affidavit in this regard "insufficient", a Division Bench comprising Justice Anil Singh and Justice R.S. Sodhi directed the CBI to investigate the allegation made by the Janata Party president, Subramanian Swamy, and register an FIR if an offence was disclosed and file a status report on the progress of investigation by February 12, 2003.

The Bench drew the attention of the CBI to the facts of another case of smuggling of Indian antiques in which the agency stated that the case was tried and the accused was acquitted for want of case properties.

The Bench said the CBI, by interpolating the facts of some other case pertaining to smuggling of Indian antiques, was trying to confuse and mislead the court. At one stage, it threatened to impose a cost on the agency for bringing irrelevant and unconnected facts.

Earlier, the agency submitted that the Italian Government had refused to share with it the facts about the ownership of the two shops unless it came through a Letter Rogatory. During the last hearing of the case the Bench had asked the CBI to find out as to who was the owner of the two shops where smuggled antiques of Indian origin were found on display for sale.

On another allegation against Sonia Gandhi and her son, Rahul Gandhi, of receiving funds from the KGB before the disintegration of the erstwhile USSR, the Bench directed the Additional Solicitor-General, K.K. Sud, to personally look into the case file and report to the court why the investigating agency considered the allegation as ''vague and not verifiable''.

Dr. Swamy, in his public interest petitions, brought to the notice of the court these allegations and wanted the court to issue a direction to the CBI to investigate them.

When he also challenged the validity of the documents on the basis of which the Congress president had been granted Indian citizenship, the court asked him to file a separate petition.

Dr. Swamy alleged that Ms. Gandhi had not so far renounced the citizenship of her native country as she had not produced the renouncement certificate from the Italian Government saying that she had ceased to be a citizen of that country.

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