This is how Dutta concluded his debriefing report for the CBI, “Given that charges against Ottavio Quattrocchi are liable to be withdrawn/ quashed in law, there can be no road map for his prosecution — the CPS has been apprised accordingly concerning the legal points of this case so that appropriate action be taken by them under their UK law.”

The ASG also informed the CBI that, “since there is no prima facie case to continue his prosecution for any of the offence, there is no justification for any further investigation under the Criminal Procedure Code. The question of further investigation, whether through issue of fresh Letters Rogatory or otherwise does not arise in view of this.”

What is not known is that the e-mail and Dutta’s report — Dutta says he e-mailed it on December 23 — was not shown to senior CBI officials. This resulted in an internal inquiry being ordered in the agency.

The inquiry concluded that while the lapse on the part of DIG R K Sharma (who received the e-mail from Nainappan) was a serious one, no mala fide could be attributed to him.

Following this, internal instructions were issued in the CBI that, in future, all correspondence/ communication in the Bofors case should be sent immediately to Director Vijay Shankar at the “dak stage.”

But the damage had been done. CBI insiders say they were “completely taken aback” with the turn of events and the fact that the ASG had exceeded the brief worked out in several rounds of discussions between him and CBI officials. This is borne out by CBI documents which reveal this chronology of events prior to Dutta’s London mission to give Quattrocchi a clean chit:

... contd.