New Delhi: On Wednesday, The government told the Supreme Court that documents related to the Rafale aircraft deal were stolen from the Defence Ministry and added that whoever puts Rafale documents in the public domain is guilty under the Official Secrets Act and contempt of court. Seeking a response from the Centre the Court asked what it had done when the stories based on stolen material came out. The hearing has been adjourned to March 14.

However, it is to be noted that on December 14, the SC had given a clean chit to the Narendra Modi government on the acquisition of 36 Rafale jet fighters have started. Meanwhile, government lawyer KK Venugopal alleged that the documents were stolen from the Ministry of Defence (MoD).  Rejecting the petition, which had sought a court-monitored probe into the purchase of 36 Rafale jets from Dassault Aviation at a cost of Rs 59,000 crore, the SC said that the procurement process was not in doubt and added that it cannot go into the question of pricing and the choice of offset Indian partner by Dassault Aviation. Rejecting the petition, the SC observed that there was no reason to doubt the Centre’s decision making.

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The petitioner has not crossed the threshold required by disclosing the source of the document.Bhushan and others have come to court with stolen documents..they have to explain how they obtained them. They have come with unclean hands..the petitions ought to be dismissed, says AG Venugopal. If a grave crime had been committed, of corruption, are you really going to hide behind national security? We are astonished you aren't referring to law: Justice K M Joseph to AG KK Venugopal

However, SC objects to certain statements made by AAP MP Sanjay Singh. CJI Ranjan Gogoi says, "We have all the statements made by him on the Rafale deal and the CBI which are derogatory."NDA's attorney KK Venugopal made a sensational charge against Prashant Bhushan and said that Bhushan gave papers which were barred under OSA. Attorney General KK Venugopal told Supreme Court that certain documents were stolen from the Defence Ministry either by public servants and an investigation is pending. We are dealing with defence purchases which involve the security of the state. It is a very sensitive case.

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