Supreme Court rejects PIL seeking fresh probe into Rafale deal

The Supreme Court on Monday refused to entertain a PIL seeking a fresh probe into the deal between India and France for the procurement of 36 Rafale jets.

A bench comprising judge Uday Umesh Lalit and S Ravindra Bhat considered lawyer M L Sharma’s submission that a direction for issuing a letters rogatory to gather fresh evidence referring to the deal be issued. He also spoken some media reports alleging that one billion Euros was paid by Dassault Aviation to a middleman to induce the deal in its favour.

The bench refused to contemplate the fresh PIL. Sharma then decided to withdraw the PIL.

On December 14, 2018, the apex court had dismissed a batch of PILs challenging the deal between India and France for the procurement of 36 Rafale jets, saying there was no occasion to “really doubt the choice making process” warranting setting aside of the contract.