Rafale documents not stolen, petitioners used photocopies: AG Venugopal makes U-turn

Two days after he created a stir with the claims that the Defence Ministry papers published in the media in connection with the Rafale deal were stolen, Attorney General KK Venugopal on Friday claimed that they were not stolen, but the petitioners used photocopies.

K K Venugopal claimed the Rafale documents were not stolen from the ministry and that what he meant in his submission before the Supreme Court was that petitioners in the application used "photocopies of the original" papers. These papers are deemed secret documents by the government.

His comments in the apex court on Wednesday that Rafale fighter jet deal documents were stolen caused a political row, with Congress president Rahul Gandhi targeting the government over the theft of such sensitive papers.

Gandhi even coined a new slogan for the election campaign against BJP -- "gayab ho gaya" -- which is a jibe at the Modi government.

"I am told that the opposition has alleged what was argued (in SC) was that files had been stolen from the Defence Ministry. This is wholly incorrect. The statement that files have been stolen is wholly incorrect," KK Venugopal told PTI, in an apparent damage-control exercise.

Venugopal said the application filed by Yashwant Sinha, Arun Shourie and Prashant Bhushant, seeking from the court a review of its verdict dismissing pleas for a probe into against the Rafale deal, had annexed three documents which were photocopies of the original.

Official sources said the AG's use of word stolen was probably "stronger" and could have been avoided.

The government had also warned The Hindu newspapers with a case under Official Secrets Act for publishing articles based on these "stolen documents".

On behalf of Yashwant Sinha, Arun Shourie and himself, advocate Prashant Bhushan said the top court would not have dismissed the plea for an FIR and the probe, had critical facts not been suppressed. The three had filed a review petition in the Supreme Court against its earlier verdict dismissing an appeal for FIR into the Rafale case.

Venugopal had said on Wednesday the documents relied upon by Prashant Bhushan were stolen from the Defence Ministry and an investigation into the matter was underway.