March 09, 2019:
On Friday, Attorney General K K Venugopal claimed that Rafale documents were not stolen from the Defence Ministry .
His submission in the Supreme Court meant that the petitioners in the application used “photocopies of the original” papers, deemed secret by the Govt.
Congress Chief Rahul Gandhi after AG's submission in SC started a political row by targeting the Govt over the theft of such sensitive papers and seeking a criminal investigation.
“I am told that the opposition has alleged what was argued (in SC) was that files had been stolen from the defence ministry. This is wholly incorrect,” Venugopal said as damage control
File relating to the deal was not physically missing from the Defence Ministry, as per sources.
Copies of documents had been made in an authorized manner and this was brought to the notice of the SC.
AG’s use of word “stolen” was probably “stronger” and misconceptual and could have been avoided, according to sources.
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