NEW DELHI: Even as the Central Bureau of Investigation on Saturday sent to the Ministry of External Affairs the documents needed to seek Ottavio Quattrocchi's extradition from Argentina, the Left parties and the Bharatiya Janata Party put the United Progressive Alliance Government on notice that it would not be allowed to get away with any cover-up attempt.

Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha L.K. Advani accused the Government of having "suppressed" the news of the detention of the Italian accused in the Bofors payoffs case for 17 days, and posed a number of questions.

Talking to The Hindu, he posed four key questions: When did the Prime Minister come to know of the detention? When did the CBI come to know of it? When did the UPA chairperson [Sonia Gandhi] come to know of it? What was the rationale behind "suppressing" the news for 17 days?

Mr. Advani saw two possible objectives behind "suppressing" the news: not to let the issue influence the ongoing Assembly elections in two States; and to get him out of the entanglement.

Days lost

"Already 17 precious days, during which the CBI ought to have sent necessary papers to Argentina to secure his extradition, have been lost," Mr. Advani said.

The BJP leader said that the manner in which Mr. Quattrocchi was allowed to escape from India, and the manner in which his two London bank accounts which had remained frozen for a number of years were unfrozen "at the behest of the Government" were pointers that "someone in the Government is keen to get him off the hook.''

He said it was on the basis of the Red Corner Notice that Mr. Quattrocchi found himself detained: because the 1997 request of the CBI to the Interpol had not been withdrawn.

Mr. Advani recalled that the Bofors scandal had spelt the political doom of Rajiv Gandhi who had earlier won the biggest-ever majority of 400-plus Lok Sabha seats in 1984.

"With a scandal like this, the country would naturally want that actual culprits and beneficiaries should be penalised. Rajiv Gandhi paid the political price but till today the country does not know who the beneficiary is. Whatever is known only points to Mr. Quattrocchi," he added.

The BJP made it clear that the issue would figure prominently on Monday, when Parliament resumes its sitting, and demand a response from the Prime Minister. After a session of senior leaders at the residence of the former Prime Minister, Atal Bihari Vajpayee, it was decided to have a meeting with other parties of the National Democratic Alliance to chalk out a joint strategy.

Demand by the Left

The Communist Party of India (Marxist) wanted the UPA Government to make all efforts with the Argentinian Government to ensure that Mr. Quattrocchi is extradited. In a statement, the Polit Bureau said his detention, on the basis of an Interpol alert, provided an opportunity to bring him to India to face the investigation and trial in the Bofors case.

The CPI echoed a similar view. The party's Central Secretariat demanded that the Manmohan Singh Government move to get Mr. Quattrocchi extradited to India to face trial.

Meanwhile, an application was moved in the Supreme Court praying that the Government be directed to secure the extradition from Argentina expeditiously.

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