The Bofors case has been "stretched too far" and there is nothing in it "except politics", Law Minister H R Bhardwaj said today claiming that the prosecution has not been able to make out a case for extradition of the accused, Ottavio Quattrocchi.
"I have told my own view that this is an old case, 20- year-old case. Many people (connected to the case) have died. They are stretching it too far and all this politics is being made out. It is senseless politics," Bhardwaj told NDTV in the backdrop of the CBI's decision to ask Interpol to drop the Italian businessman from its list of wanted persons.
Asked whether there were other ways to get Quattrocchi extradited, he said "extradition (attempts) one after the other have failed. How many times and where will they (CBI) go, I dont know. You ask them. "I think all these things have failed because we have not been able to make out a case, or an offence or extraditable offence.
"Bhardwaj contended that the courts have thrown the case out three times. "There is nothing in this case except politics. And courts know it because the courts have three times thrown it out and there is nothing to proceed in this case," he said. The minister said that the CBI had filed a report and the case is pending in two courts.
"We will argue it in courts". "The CBI is free to do whatever it likes. But I have told my own view that this is an old case, 20-year-old case. Many people have died and they are stretching (it) too far...," Bhardwaj said.