The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) moved the Supreme Court on Friday against a 12-year-old Delhi High Court order that had quashed all charges against the accused in the Rs 64-crore Bofors pay-off case. India's longest-running criminal investigation had led to the downfall of Rajiv Gandhi-led Congress government in 1989.

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The CBI's petition comes despite Attorney General KK Venugopal's advice to the Central government against an appeal, saying it was likely to be dismissed only on account of a long delay. On May 31, 2005, Justice RS Sodhi of the Delhi High Court had cleared business brothers — Srichand, Gopichand and Prakash Hinduja — and Swedish arms manufacturer AB Bofors. The CBI said the delay in approaching the top court was because the government in power at the relevant time denied permission for the same.

The CBI has stated that "fresh evidence" after the first investigator of the case, Michael J Hershman, the then president and CEO of the Fairfax Group, claimed in an interview with DNA in October that "millions were paid as bribe by AB Bofors to influential politicians and people".

The CBI said it filed a special leave petition (SLP) before the Supreme Court because new facts have to come to light which need to be investigated. The agency said it needs to record Hershman's statement and take new evidences on record.

DNA has accessed the petition that reads: "The statements made by Mr Hershman go to the very root of the matter. To permit the proceedings to remain quashed, in the light of this fresh development, would be a travesty of justice."

Sources say Venugopal changed his mind and gave the CBI the go-ahead after its officials showed him fresh documents.

In 1987, the Swedish public radio alleged AB Bofors had bribed Indian politicians and officials to win a contract to supply 410 155mm howitzers to the Army.

The CBI had taken note of the DNA interview and said it will probe the new revelations. On October 20, the agency asked its administrative department, the Department of Personnel and Training, to reconsider the 2005 decision on the Bofors probe, ahead of the Supreme Court's hearing on a petition on October 30.

The agency said it wanted to move the Supreme Court to challenge the Delhi High Court judgement. It is learnt to have asked key officers to locate the "buried" Bofors files and prepare a fresh list of witnesses and accused who are "still alive".

The CBI is also planning to constitute a new team to re-investigate the case and contact earlier investigators.