Our campaign certainly won't drop, says petitioner Prashant Bhushan on Rafale verdict

One of the main petitioners of Rafale jet deal petition in Supreme Court, Prashant Bhusan on Friday called the verdict "totally wrong" and told media that they may file a review petition.

"In our opinion, the Supreme Court judgement is totally wrong, the campaign will certainly not drop and we will decide if we will file a review petition," Prashant Bhushan said.

The Supreme Court on Friday dismissed all petitions pertaining to multi-million dollar Rafale fighter jets deal saying that they are satisfied that "there is no occasion to doubt the process."

Meanwhile, home minister Rajnath Singh while hailing the court verdict said that "the matter was crystal clear from the beginning". 

"We have been saying that the allegations levelled by Congress were baseless and to gain political mileage," Rajnasth Singh added.

A three-judge Supreme Court bench comprising, Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi, Justices SK Kaul and KM Joseph said that detailed scrutiny of the Rafale fighter jet deal was not required.

India signed an agreement with France for the purchase of 36 Rafale fighter aircraft in a fly-away condition as part of the upgrading process of the Indian Air Force equipment. The estimated cost of the deal is Rs 58,000 crore.

The petitions seeking the probe in the Rafale deal were first filed by advocates Manohar Lal Sharma and Vineet Dhanda. Later, AAP MP Sanjay Singh had also filed a petition.

Former union ministers Yashwant Sinha, Arun Shourie and activist lawyer Prashant Bhushan had also filed a joint petition in the apex court.

Last month, the Centre had submitted the pricing details of the 36 Rafale fighter jets to the top court.

The Centre in its submission had said that the Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS) approval was secured before the deal was inked with France. The Rafale fighter is a twin-engine medium multi-role combat aircraft (MMRCA) manufactured by French aerospace company Dassault Aviation.