BJP rejects Congress' allegation of slow down in AgustaWestland case

Thiruvananthapuram: Dismissing Congress’ charge of slow down in the Agustawestland chopper deal probe under the NDA regime, Union Law Minister DV Sadananda Gowda on Friday said CBI investigating it was saddled with many pending cases and government can only request it to speed up. [caption id=“attachment_2756334” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Representational image. Reuters[/caption] “CBI is an autonomous body and the Centre cannot give any direction to it. We can only request them to speed up the probe as many cases are pending,” he told a meet-the-press organised in Thiruvananthapuram. “We can tell CBI to speed up the matter. We cannot ask them to place the report by a particular time. That is not possible,” Gowda, a senior BJP leader, said on Congress questioning what the NDA government was doing in the last two years. The Defence Ministry has already taken up the issue. “They are going into it. I hope within a week or 15 days…result will come out,” he said when asked why the Centre was reluctant to reveal the names of bribe takers. He also made it clear that government did not want to name any person without a conclusive proof. “I do not want to make any statement against anybody…unless I get conclusive proof,” he said when asked whether former defence minister A K Antony was linked to the issue. The “conclusive” evidence would come when CBI files its report, he said. Gowda also said persons who gave bribe were inside jail and the “persons who received the bribe are here and there”.