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The Supreme Court Tuesday asked Swiss national Prakashchand P Hinduja, one of the three Hinduja brothers accused in the Bofors case seeking permission to go abroad, to file an affidavit stating that he would not oppose his extradition from Switzerland if such a proceeding was commenced in future.
A bench comprising Justice M B Shah and Justice S N Phukan gave this direction while posting the hearing of the case for Wednesday even as the counsel for the three Hinduja brothers contended that the Europe-based brothers have shown enough bonafides to be permitted to go abroad.
The court on May 12 had allowed only Srichand Hinduja and Gopichand Hinduja to go abroad till August 20 after they furnished bail bonds of a staggering Rs 150 million each with an undertaking that they would not seek adjournment of the hearing of the case before the trial court on the ground that they were not present.
Counsel Kapil Sibal said that the two brothers, who were required to be in India only by August 20, were already here to show their bonafides and pleaded that the third brother be allowed to go abroad on the same conditions.
When the court said that he was a Swiss national and as per the laws of that country he could not be extradited unless he gave written consent, Sibal said he has already written to the Swiss government that he would not oppose extradition proceedings concerning him.
He said Prakashchand had already filed an affidavit in this regard in the Delhi High Court. The court directed him to file the same bon Tuesday so that the matter could be heard Wednesday.
Sibal said British nationals Srichand and Gopichand, who were allowed to go abroad had come back to India several times in the interim period and argued that there was no apprehension of their absconding.
The court then asked Central Bureau of Investigation counsel N Natrajan to spell out if the agency had any apprehension about the brothers not coming back to India if allowed to go abroad.
Natrajan said it was difficult for the CBI to spell out if it had any apprehension and added it was for the trial court to decide whether they would be available for trial.
The bench then observed that the May 12 interim order of the court regarding the two brothers could be extended but wanted to know as to when the trial court was framing the charges.
Sibal said the documents supplied by the prosecution to the accused were being scrutinised by the counsel and only after that the charges would be framed.
At one point, Sibal even suggested that the Bombay-based fourth brother Ashok Hinduja could stand surety for the three brothers and said the Hindujas having over Rs 100 billion investment in India "are not going to run away from trial".
When the court expressed apprehension that Prakashchand being a Swiss national could stall his extradition proceedings, the counsel said if that were so then he would not have come to India voluntarily to face the trial.
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