Centre urges SC to exercise restraint while delivering observation on Rafale

Centre's lawyer K.K. Venugopal said every statement made in the court would be used to target either the government or the Opposition.

“Why should the court become a party to such an exercise?”  Venugopal said in court.

The Rafale deal is one of the crucial issues the Opposition is banking on to target the Narendra Modi-led government.

Venugopal also made reference to the recent intrusion by Pakistan's F-16 fighter jets in retaliation to Indian Air Force’s strikes on a Jaish-e-Mohammad facility in Balakot.

“We are trying to protect the security of the country… Some F-16s come and bomb us. What we are to do?” he said justifying the purchase of Rafale.

The Congress says the Narendra Modi government junked a deal for 126 Rafale jets negotiated by the previous UPA government and entered into a more expensive contract for 36 jets to help Anil Ambani's company.

Rafale documents lost: Centre tells SC

The central government on Wednesday told the Supreme Court that the Rafale documents were stolen and the petitioners are violating law by relying on such papers, media reports said.

This statement invited much criticism from the Opposition, which accused the Narendra Modi government of being behind the disappearance of the documents.

"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," the Attorney General has been quoted by NDTV.

When Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi asked what action has been taken, the Centre said the government is probing into the matter.

"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 Attorney General was quoted by NDTV.

The petitioners have pointed several The Hindu reports over the Rafale row.

The Hindu report on Rafale pointing finger at Modi government:

In its first report, The Hindu had claimed that the PMO (Prime Minister's Office) held parallel parleys with the French government prompting the Defence Ministry to object to the separate talks.

The Defence Ministry's objection was quoted by The Hindu, "We may advise PMO that any Officers who are not part of Indian Negotiating Team may refrain from having parallel parlays [parleys] with the officers of French Government....in case the PMO is not confident about the outcome of negotiations being carried out by the MoD, a revised modality of negotiations to be led by PMO at appropriate level may be adopted in the case.”

The second report stated the Indian government made some unprecedented concessions to France in the Rafale deal.

Days before the signing of the deal, as the newspaper reported, India dropped provisions for anti-corruption penalties and making payments through an escrow account.

In the third report pointing a finger at the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government, The Hindu stated three Defence Ministry officials had arrived at a conclusion that the Rafale deal (buying of 36 fighter jets from France) made by the Narendra Modi government was not on "better terms" than the one made by the UPA government.

The three Defence Ministry officials, who were the domain experts on the seven-member Indian Negotiating Team (INT), also concluded that the delivery schedule of the first 18 of 36 jets in the new deal was slower than the original procurement process.

Under the Congress-led UPA government, which ruled the country from 2004 to 2014, India has signed a deal to buy 126 Rafale fighter jets.