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A bench comprising Justice M B Shah and Justice R P Sethi allowed Swiss national Prakashchand to go abroad on the same terms and conditions on which Srichand and Gopichand were earlier allowed to go out of India by an order of the court after he said on oath that if any extradition proceeding was instituted against him in his country he would not oppose it.
The bench asked the Swiss national to execute a personal bond of Rs 15 crore (Rs 150 million), be present before the trial court as and when required and barred his counsel from taking adjournments of the trial proceedings on the ground of his absence.
The bench asked either of the two brothers to make an appropriate application before the trial court regarding the one who was staying back in India even as S P Hinduja volunteered to do so.
Earlier, CBI counsel Additional Solicitor General Altaf Ahmed said there were serious allegations against the Hindujas and if they all were permitted to go abroad at the same time, the trial was likely to be delayed.
Referring to Prakashchand, Ahmed said as he was a Swiss national, the law of that country did not permit extradition of any of its citizen without his written consent.
He said CBI was of the view that as Swiss law would favour Prakashchand, "He is not likely to come back, if allowed to go abroad."
Meanwhile, the court, which had allowed Srichand and Gopichand to go abroad till August 20 by its May 12 order, extended the operation of the interim order till October one.
In view of the repeated submissions by the Hindujas' counsel Kapil Sibal that the trial would linger on for years together, the bench asked the trial court to submit a report by August 30 detailing among other things the time needed for the conclusion of trial in the Rs 64 crore (Rs 640 million) Bofors payoff case.
The petitions by the three Hinduja brothers seeking permanent permission to go abroad would come up for hearing on August 30.
The trial court was also asked to submit details of the number of Central bureau of Investigation (CBI) cases pending before it, other cases being heard by it and the number of lengthy matters pending with it in connection with the Bofors case.
The court also asked the CBI to state about the machinery at its disposal for speedy trial in the case.
Bofors Case: Complete Coverage
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