Quick action, no political interference, Left tells govt

New Delhi, Feb 24 (UNI) The Left parties today asked the government to take immediate steps to get Ottavio Quattrocchi, wanted in the Bofors payoffs case, extradited to India, initiate legal proceedings and ensure that there was no ''political interference.'' The CPI(M), CPI and Forward Bloc, however, ruled out the possibility of the return of the ''Bofors ghost'' on the national politcal arena.

Mr Quattrocchi (69) has been detained by Interpol in Argentina.

The Bofors case, brought into the limelight by former Prime Minister V P Singh after he parted ways with the Congress, was one of the reasons for the drubbing of the country's oldest party in 1989 general elections.

CPI(M) Polit Bureau member M K Pandhe said it was still ''unfortunate'' that the CBI chose to hide the news for as many as 17 days and broke it only yesterday. ''Even earlier the government took a wrong step when it permitted de-freezing of his bank accounts.'' ''We demand that there should be no political consideration in the case and that the trial be fair to ensure that the guilty be punished. Besides, there should be no further delay in the legal proceedings as over Rs 600 crore has already been spent to investigate a payoff of Rs 64 lakh,'' the veteran leader said, asserting since Mr Quattrochi ''is known to the Gandhi family, the government should take recourse to proper legal proceedings and not repeat mistakes like that of letting off the Hindujas in the case.'' Senior CPI leader and party Chief Whip in the Lok Sabha S Sudhakar Reddy contended that the case offered an opportunity to the Congress-led UPA government to ''restore its credibility.'' He, however, ruled out the possibility of the case taking the centre-stage again on political scene. ''But the BJP may try to raise the issue to a pitch that it again catches the fancy of the countrymen,'' he noted.

CPI(M) Floor leader in the Lok Sabha Basudeb Acharia said it was unfortunate that the case had taken such a long time -- 17 years -- and cost a great sum to the national exchequer.

''Even as the charges against Quattrocchi had been substantially 'watered down' but he still faces the charges of conspiracy to cheat in the case, for which a chargesheet was filed in a Delhi High court in 1999,'' he said.

Forward Bloc National Secretary G Devrajan accused the CBI of ''criminal negligence'' for hiding the news for 17 days as Quattrocchi was detained on February 6 and the CBI got information the same day. He also demanded that "no political interference be allowed to further water down the case.'' The CPI(M) also issued a statement in this connection here saying that the detention of Quattrocchi, on the basis of an Interpol alert, had proved an opportunity to India to face the investigation and trial in the Bofors case.

''The UPA government must make all efforts with the Argentinian government to ensure that he is extradited to India,'' the CPI(M) Polit Bureau added.

UNI