It was only in 1999 that the investigations were substantially completed and the chargesheet filed against various accused. A legal battle was fought in Malaysia to extradite him. He escaped from Malaysia over a weekend when an appeal had to be filed on Monday against the high court order in Malaysia refusing to extradite him. The Indian Supreme Court expressed a strong disapproval of his conduct for not appearing in Indian courts. The only pending question was whether the money trail stopped at Quattrocchi or travelled further to his political masters.

There was a parallel move by the accused to get a judicial burial of the case. The Delhi High Court delivered five erroneous judgments in this regard. Three of them were challenged before the Supreme Court and reversed. The UPA government and its law officers advised the CBI not to challenge the last two judgments. The first judgment sought to quash the investigation, on several grounds including that the CBI was not a validly constituted agency. It was reversed by the Supreme Court. The second judgment quashed the First Information Report. It was also overturned by the Supreme Court. The third judgment held that the CBI could not have filed the chargesheet without sanction from the Central Vigilance Commission. The Supreme Court again reversed it. The fourth judgment quashed the framing of the charge against some accused on the ground that there is no more a Living Public Servant left in the case and the provisions of the Prevention of Corruption Act could not be attracted. The fifth judgment quashed charge framing against the Hindujas on the ground that the provisions of the IPC offences will no longer be attracted. The CBI under the UPA did not challenge the last two judgments. The chargesheet now remains only against Quattrocchi. Law officers of the UPA government have given opinions that the case is no longer maintainable.

... contd.