NEW DELHI: The Central government urged the Supreme Court on Wednesday to throw out a plea to review its clean chit to the controversial Rafale fighter jet deal on the ground that the petition was based on “unauthorised” photocopies of sensitive documents involving national security, an act tantamount to “theft.”
Attorney General KK Venugopal sparked a controversy last week when he told the court that the documents were stolen or purloined from the defence ministry, that they were privileged documents under the Official Secrets Act and warned of criminal action against those who had published them.
He clarified to news agencies the next day that he had meant that the documents were unauthorisedly obtained and hence could not be used in court.
