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S P Hinduja grilled again for over five hours

Onkar Singh in New Delhi

The Central Bureau of Investigation Sunday grilled S P Hinduja for the second successive day and said he would be questioned on Monday too before the agency submits a status report to the special court of Ajit Bharihoke.

Srichand Hinduja's interrogation began at 11 am and continued up to 1.30 pm before the CBI team, led by DIG O P Galhotra, broke for lunch. The questioning resumed at 3 pm and continued till 6 pm.

The two other Hinduja brothers -- G P and PP Hinduja -- also came to the CBI headquarters to furnish some clarifications.

Later, talking to newspersons S P Hinduja said that their stand in the Bofors pay-off case has been consistent. "We have been saying from day one that the money paid to us by M/s Bofors had nothing to do with the Bofors gun deal or charges of corruption. I can tell you that we are being interrogated by the CBI and we are fully co-operating with the agency. We have given all information that we could provide to the agency," he said.

He refuted reports appearing in some British papers that Peter Mandelson, former Northern Ireland secretary, had helped him get a British passport after the Hindujas paid one million pounds for the construction of the Millennium Dome.

"These charges are false and totally baseless. Why should I need the help of Mandelson to get a passport?" he asked.

S M Khan, spokesman for CBI, clarified that only Srichand Hinduja was called for questioning on Sunday and that the other two brothers had come on their own to lend a helping hand.

Asked if the interrogators were satisfied with the answers given by Srichand Hinduja, Khan said since the agency would be reporting to the court about the status of the interrogation, it would not be proper to disclose anything at this stage.

CBI sources said the agency is likely to tell the court that they need few more days to complete the investigations as they have yet to talk to the other two Hinduja brothers

Meanwhile, tomorrow a Malaysian court would hear a CBI plea on the extradition of Ottavio Quattarochi, who was arrested by the Malaysian police last month but was released on bail. CBI has flown one of its officers to Malasia to assist the CBI lawyer Cyrus Das."

"We hope Quttarochi would be brought to India too," Khan said.

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Bofors: The Smoking Gun

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