Plea seeking fresh probe into Rafale deal thrown out by SC

New Delhi, Aug 29: 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 Chief Justice Uday Umesh Lalit and S Ravindra Bhat considered lawyer M L Sharma's submission that a direction for issuing a letters rogatory to collect fresh evidence relating to the deal be issued. He also referred to some media reports alleging that one billion Euros was paid by Dassault Aviation to a middleman to get the deal in its favour.

The bench refused to consider the fresh PIL. Sharma then decided to withdraw the PIL, news agency PTI reported.

On December 14, 2018, the top 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 decision making process" warranting setting aside of the contract.