05 February 2004	Thursday	13 Zilhaj 1424

NEW DELHI, Feb 4: An Indian court on Wednesday cleared former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi of involvement in the country's biggest arms scandal, giving a timely boost to the Congress party, led by his widow, before the elections.

The Delhi High Court said there was no evidence to show Rajiv Gandhi had accepted money to clear a 1.2 billion dollars artillery deal with Sweden's Bofors almost 16 years ago, a Bofors lawyer said.

Rajiv Gandhi, assassinated by a suicide bomber during election campaigning in 1991, was charged by police with conspiracy to cheat the government, along with India's billionaire Hinduja brothers, Bofors and defence ministry officials.

The Congress party seized on the acquittal, demanding an apology from the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party for smearing the name of the country's most celebrated political dynasty as the two sides square off for an upcoming general election.

"Rajiv Gandhi's good name was spoiled purely for a political vendetta," said Congress' Kapil Sibal. "The minimum that the BJP can do is to apologise to the nation."

The arms scandal which engulfed Gandhi's administration in 1987 contributed to his fall in elections two years later and helped end his party's decades-long political supremacy.

Despite clearing Gandhi, Judge J.D. Kapoor said conspiracy and cheating charges against the three Hinduja brothers could go ahead in a lower court, due to begin trial hearings this month.-Reuters