CBI hems and haws over Q factor

The CBI grappled in court on Thursday to spell out its next course of action to extradite  Italian businessman Ottavio Quattrocchi.

In a jam-packed court of chief metropolitan magistrate Kaveri Baweja, the CBI admitted that the red corner notice (RCN) was recalled in November last year. It sought two months time from the court to file a status report, which it will submit during the next hearing on September 8.

It also informed the court that twice the extradition proceedings could not be completed for “various reasons”.

The hearing went on for 10 minutes during which CBI officials were evasive and tightlipped. Additional solicitor general PP Malhotra, appearing for the CBI, said: “There were eight accused in the case. Three are already dead and four were acquitted by the Delhi high court in February 2004. Various attempts to get Quattrochi extradited to India have failed.”

The withdrawal of RCN against Quattrocchi would jeopardise the Bofors trial because the court would never be able to frame charges against him in case he is not caught and produced in court.

“Till September 8, the CBI will work out its options and then inform the court about it,” Malhotra said. The CBI has filed two chargesheet in the case and the Italian businessman has been declared an absconder by the court.

The RCN was issued in 1997 after the CBI requested the Interpol to do so and on two occasions the agency failed to extradite 70-year-old Quattrocchi.