Rafale deal documents stolen from Defence Ministry

At a time, when Rahul Gandhi and Congress have been continuously attacking the Narendra Modi-led BJP government over the Rafale aircraft deal, the Centre on Wednesday told the Supreme Court that documents related to Rafale aircraft deal have been stolen from the Defence Ministry.

Notably, former Union ministers Yashwant Sinha and Arun Shourie and advocate Prashant Bhushan had moved to the Supreme Court, seeking review of its 14th December judgment on the Rafale fighter jet deal and the apex court agreed to hear the plea seeking review of its verdict in the case. They had alleged that the Centre suppressed crucial facts when the apex court decided to dismiss the batch of PILs against the Rafale deal in December.

On Wednesday when advocate Prashant Bhushan referred to an article written by senior journalist N Ram in The Hindu newspaper, Attorney General KK Venugopal opposed it, and said, "His (N Ram's) write-ups were based on stolen documents and an investigation into the theft is underway."

The Attorney General also said that the documents on the deal relied on by the petitioners were marked secret and classified, and therefore, are in violation of Official Secrets Act.