Modi in ‘dogfight’ with Rafale warplanes

NEW DELHI: India's attorney general said Wednesday certain documents pertaining to the purchase of Rafale fighter jets from France have been stolen from the defence ministry.Attorney General of India KK Venugopal told the Indian Supreme Court, which was hearing review petitions in the Rafale deal case, that "these documents were stolen from the Defence Ministry either by former or present employees"."These are secret documents and can't be in the public domain," Venugopal told the court, representing the central government. When Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi questioned what action the government had taken, Venugopal accused The Hindu newspaper of relying on these classified documents and said, "We are investigating how these documents were stolen.""It is a criminal offence. We are objecting preliminary because secret documents can't be annexed with the petition. Review and perjury petitions must be dismissed," the Indian attorney general said. The Indian chief justice asked: "Primary question is that should the court not look into the evidence or the document if there is relevance or corruption?"Venugopal said: "It should not be looked into as it deals with defence and secrets." He added if a CBI investigation is directed now, huge damage will be done to the country and its safety, security and sovereignty will be in peril.The Indian apex court has adjourned the hearing in the case to March 14.Indian political parties have been gunning for Modi over the 2016 purchase of 36 Rafale planes from Dassault Aviation estimated to be worth $8.7 billion, saying he had overpaid for the planes and had not been transparent.The opposition has questioned the government of PM Narendra Modi on the choice of billionaire Indian businessman Anil Ambani’s Reliance Defence as Dassault’s local partner instead of a state-run manufacturer with decades of experience.Dassault initially won the contract to supply 126 jets to India in 2012, with 18 to be built in France and the rest in India in collaboration with the state-owned Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL).However, during a visit to France in 2015 Modi scrapped the deal, signed under the previous government led by the Congress party, and ordered instead 36.The Congress and other opposition political parties in India have demanded that a first information report (FIR) should be lodged against Modi and a case be registered under the Prevention of Corruption Act over misuse of his office and taking kickbacks in the 7.87 billion euros Rafale deal.The amount of 7.8 billion euros is roughly equivalent to Indian Rs623.830 billion or Pakistani Rs1,226.720 billion.The Hindu stated: “Congress Party’s media in-charge Randeep Singh Surjewala told reporters that it is now clear that none less than Modi caused loss to the public exchequer by misusing his office. When asked whether the Congress will lodge an FIR in the case, he said the prime minister should respect his position and should ask the investigating agencies to file an FIR in the case based on the fresh facts.”The Hindu further said: “Congress general secretary, Sitaram Yechury, said it is a clear case of corruption. A simple calculation also tells us that Modi and National Security Adviser Ajit Doval were extra-keen to get the Rafale by paying more money than was needed, perhaps only to bail out a crony businessman!,” he tweeted. When asked whether the Congress will lodge an FIR in the case, he said the prime minister should respect his position and should ask the investigating agencies to file an FIR in the case based on the fresh facts.”The 140-year old newspaper with a daily circulation of over 1.2 million, has further gone on to write: “Surjewala said the price of 36 Rafale aircraft is far more than 126 Rafale aircraft under UPA government.”Meanwhile, The Wire, a New Delhi-based news website, has reported: “Soon after the Modi government informed the Supreme Court that official documents related to the controversial Rafale deal were stolen from the Defence Ministry, the Congress attacked the Centre for misleading the court. Congress, which has doggedly been raising the issue, took this opportunity to up its ante. It said that the government was trying to hide behind the official secrecy clause to prevent its corrupt dealings from coming to light.”Meanwhile, a multi-storey building housing offices of the Indian Air Force (IAF) and government departments caught fire on Wednesday.Several central Indian government offices, including a branch of the IAF, Ministry of Drinking Water and Sanitation, and Ministry of Forest "operate out of the building", according to the Hindustan Times.A sub-inspector of the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) died during the incident as he inhaled smoke, the report said.Delhi’s chief fire officer Atul Garg said the fire started at the Pandit Deendayal Antyodaya Bhawan in the CGO complex around 8:30am. Officials said the fire was brought under control.Meanwhile, high-resolution satellite images reviewed by Reuters debunk India's claims that its warplanes had hit a site and killed a large number of alleged terrorists in Balakot on February 26.The images produced by Planet Labs Inc, a San Francisco-based private satellite operator, show at least six buildings on the site on March 4, six days after the airstrike. These are the first satellite images released of the site of the Balakot airstrike.There are no discernible holes in the roofs of buildings, no signs of scorching, blown-out walls, displaced trees around the structures or other signs of an aerial attack. The images cast further doubt on statements made over the last eight days by the Indian government regarding the strike early on February 26.India’s foreign and defence ministries did not reply to emailed questions by Reuters sent in the past few days seeking comment on what is shown in the satellite images and whether they undermine its official statements on the airstrikes.Jeffrey Lewis, director of the East Asia Nonproliferation Project at the Middlebury Institute of International Studies, who has 15 years’ experience in analysing satellite images of weapons sites and systems, confirmed that the high-resolution satellite pictures "don’t show any evidence of bomb damage".The Indian government has not publicly disclosed what weapons were used in the strike. However, Indian government sources told Reuters last week that 12 Mirage 2000 jets carrying 1,000kg bombs carried out the attack. On Tuesday, a defence official said the aircraft used the 2,000-lb Israeli-made SPICE 2000 glide bomb in the strike.Lewis and Dave Schmerler, a senior research associate at the James Martin Centre for Nonproliferation studies who also analyses satellite images, said weapons that large would have caused obvious damage to the structures visible in the picture.Further, in two visits to Balakot by Reuters reporters last Tuesday and Thursday, and extensive interviews with people in the surrounding area, there was no evidence found to validate Indian claims.Abdur Rasheed, a van driver who works in the area, told Reuters reporters that there weren’t any human casualties: “No one died. Only some pine trees died, they were cut down. A crow also died,” he said.Pakistan had rejected India’s claims and said the Pakistani Air Force's (PAF) timely response had forced Indian warplanes to return and drop their "payload" on a largely empty hillside.“There has been no damage to any infrastructure or human life as a result of Indian incursion,” Major General Asif Ghafoor, Director General Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), said in a statement.

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