Bahamas lead in Bofors case

NEW DELHI: After years of exertions, the CBI may be on the verge of a breakthrough in identifying the ownership of the accounts holding the Bofors kickbacks.
The agency has decided to approach a local court here for a letter rogatory which could enable it to penetrate the wall of confidentiality to access the details of the accounts.
The agency is to move the court of the Chief Metropolitan Magistrate on February 23 to seek the letter rogatory — a judicial request for assistance — to the authorities in the tax haven of the Bahamas.
If it succeeds in the court and if the Bahamas pay heed to the request, the agency will have accomplished the breakthrough that has eluded it since it was put on the Bofors trail.
Bilkis case: 13 sent to custody
AHMEDABAD: A local court on Monday sent 13 people arrested in the Bilkis Banu case to judicial custody till February 20.
All the thirteen, who were in judicial custody at the Sabarmati Central Jail here, were produced before a magistrate of a special fast-track court and sent to judicial custody.
Twelve of them would again be produced before Judge S M Padhyay on February 20 for the hearing of an application filed by CBI seeking to conduct scientific tests on them, as also conducting their identification parade.
The CBI reopened and began investigation into the case in January at the behest of the Supreme court after the Gujarat government had closed the case for lack of evidence.
During its probe, the CBI not only arrested the 12 people from various parts of Limkheda taluka of the district, but also began an excavation in the Pannivel forests to recover the bodies of those massacred by a mob on March 3, 2002.