NEW DELHI: India’s principal crime investigation agency, CBI, will interrogate Arun Nehru for his role in the multibillion Bofors payoffs scandal in the light of the recent disclosures in a section of the Press.

Nehru had met senior Swedish officers to discuss the Bofors offer to supply guns to India although he was then only a Minister of State for Energy, and he had insisted on complete secrecy before he could look into the “political aspect” of the deal. Arun Nehru’s proximity to India Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi is well known.

The Bombay daily, the Independent, carried response on the progress of the Bofors negotiations sent to his principals by a senior Swedish officer in the Delhi embassy, Rolf Cauffin, where in it is revealed that it was due to Arun Nehru’s prompting that the then Swedish Prime Minister Olaf Palme had raised the gun deal issue with Rajiv Gandhi. Again, it was Nehru who had guided Swedish negotiators whom to meet and who not to meet the clinch the deal.

Taking a cue from these public disclosures, the CBI has reportedly decided to question Arun Nehru as well as his former boss and friend, Rajiv Gandhi to find out the extent of Nehru’s involvement in the scandal.

Sources in the Union Government revealed that the documents published by The Independent were already in the knowledge of the CBI which had clear access to them. At one stage, the CBI had spoken about him agencies determination not to let off anyone involved, including Arun Nehru. But then decided to stay of silent.

There is speculation among political circles here about the latest stance of the CBI, Has the Press been made a sounding board for the crescendo to build up and clear the way for an in-depth investigation is one question being posed, It is admitted by CBI officials that the documents published by the Independent had been circulating for quite some time. “We knew some newspaper will publish them”, said one CBI officer.

The CBI authorities do not subscribe to the theory that Arun Nehru may have acted independently and not at the behest of Rajiv Gandhi to bring about the Bofors deal. The Swedes had approached the right men for passing the deal because they knew the political.

 NEW DELHI: India’s principal crime investigation agency, CBI, will interrogate Arun Nehru for his role in the multibillion Bofors payoffs scandal in the light of the recent disclosures in a section of the Press.

Nehru had met senior Swedish officers to discuss the Bofors offer to supply guns to India although he was then only a Minister of State for Energy, and he had insisted on complete secrecy before he could look into the “political aspect” of the deal. Arun Nehru’s proximity to India Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi is well known.

The Bombay daily, the Independent, carried response on the progress of the Bofors negotiations sent to his principals by a senior Swedish officer in the Delhi e brassy, Rolf Cauffin, where it revealed that it was due to Arun Nehru’s prompting that the then Swedish Prime Minister Olaf Palme had raised the gun deal equations in the Central Government those days,

Arun Nehru is widely known for his manipulative skills thanks to which he occupied important positions first in the Rajiv Gandhi Government and later in the VP Singh government. As Minister of State for Internal Security in 198486, Arun Nehru closely directed the Operation Bluestar and subsequent repression of Sikhs in Punjab. He continues to play a significant role in the decision making in Delhi in respect of Punjab even today. In Kashmir again, it is Arun Nehru whose writ runs first through Jagmohan and now through G.C Saxena,

It was due to Arun Nehru’s influence, again, that the documents linking him with the Bofors scandal remained buried in the cupboards of some of the leading newspapers. These documents were sent by a Geneva based correspondent, Chitra Subramaniam, more than two months ago. The documents were sent to Arun Shourie of Indian Express and G Irani of the Statesman.

Earlier Chitra had fallen out with the management of The Hindu, Madras, for not publishing a few documents in connection: with the Bofors deal. She had then joined Indian Express thinking its editor was an independent person not deterred by the powers that be. But now she appears to have been disillusioned with Shourie and has snapped her ties with Indian Express as well. Chitra will now write for The Statesman.

Meanwhile Nehru has activated in the entire Press. The pliable newspapers are writing articles defending Arun Nehru’s role in the Bofors case. One important former editor pleaded for dropping the Bofors investigations “in the national interest”.

Mann rules out unity with Dal (B)

LUDHIANA: The chief of the Shiromani Akali Dal (Mann) Simranjit Singh Mann said that no unity was possible with the rival Badal Akali Dal as its leaders first supported the constitutional amendment extending the President’s rule in Punjab and were now trying for the revival of the assembly to come to power through the backdoor.

Article extracted from this publication >> September 14, 1990