Special court accepts CBI report exonerating George Fernandes in Barak Missile deal

A special court has accepted the CBI report exonerating former defence minister George Fernandes and the then naval chief Admiral Sushil Kumar in a decade-old case of alleged bribery in the Rs 1,150-crore Barak missile deal.

Special CBI judge Gurdeep Singh accepted the agency’s closure report which said “allegations are not substantiated against the accused persons” in the case.

Besides the former defence minister and Admiral Kumar, others accused in the case were Fernandes’ close aide Jaya Jaitley, arms dealer Suresh Nanda, then Samata Party treasurer Rakesh Kumar Jain and unknown officials of M/s Israel Aircraft Industries Ltd (IAI), Israel.

It was alleged that Fernandes’ associate Jaya Jaitley and others had received a bribe of Rs two crore in the Rs 1,150-crore Barak missile deal in 2000.

However, the court agreed with CBI that after going through the documents procured and examined during the investigation, the case has to be closed.

“After going through the closure report, statement of witnesses and documents placed before me, I do not find any reason to differ with the conclusion of the investigating officer. Therefore, I am satisfied with the conclusion arrived at by CBI. Accordingly, the closure report is accepted,” the judge said.