New Delhi: Sten Lindstrom, the former head of Swedish police who led the investigations into the Bofors gun deal and 25 years after the media revelations came out as the whistleblower Swedish Deep Throat, said he was given a list of names to pursue which included that of super star Amitabh Bachchan.
In an interview to journalist Chitra Subramaniam-Duella published by the Hoot, Lindstrom said he met a team of Indian investigators in 1990 on a courtesy call and they damaged the seriousness of his work and the media investigation.
"They were in the process of filing a letter-rogatory (LR) in Switzerland. Without an official request from Switzerland, Sweden could not intervene," he said.
"They gave me a list of names to pursue including the name of Amitabh Bachchan. They also told me they did not trust you (Chitra) entirely because you had refused to link the Bachchans to the kickbacks. During that trip to Sweden, the Indian investigators planted the Bachchan angle on DN. The Bachchan’s took them to court in the UK and won. DN had to apologise and they said the story had come from Indian investigators. I was disappointed with the role of many senior journalists and politicians during that period. They muddied the waters," he said.
April 2012 marks the 25 anniversary of the Bofors-India media revelations, which began on April 16, 1987 with revelations on Swedish state radio.
Bachchan reacted with relief in a late night blog post on Wednesday to his exoneration in the Bofors case after the main informant in the controversial deal said the case against the actor and then Congress MP and his family was planted in Swedish newspaper Dagens Nyheter by Indian investigators.
"I speak from personal experience and personal exoneration. 25 years after the incident, I read today from one that pioneered accusation and investigation, of innocence. Of the fault that never lay before me," Bachchan wrote in his blog.
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