'We lived with humiliation for 25 years', says Big B on Bofors clean-chit

Mumbai, Apr 25 (ANI): Bollywood superstar Amitabh Bachchan on Wednesday said he was delighted over his exoneration in the Bofors Gun case, but added that his family lived with humiliation for the past 25 years.

Bachchan said his parents would have been very happy to witness this clean chit.

"For 25 years, we lived with the humiliation, we were young at that time, we fought the legal battle. But my parents have not witnessed this clean chit. I had told them that I was innocent. But had they been alive today, they would be very happy," he said.

Bachchan further said it was beyond his understanding as to why the former Swedish police chief has made the clarification now when he knew the truth earlier that I was innocent.

"From day one, we had been saying that we are innocent. But now to have a clarification from the very authorities that were looking into the investigations. I guess this is the way the world functions. So, you can't do anything about it," he said.

Amitabh Bachchan's wife and Samajwadi Party (SP) lawmaker Jaya Bachchan had earlier in the day expressed her delight over the final exoneration of her husband's' name in the Bofors case, saying the truth had finally come out in the open.

In an interview that appears on the website hoot.org, former Swedish police chief Sten Lindstrom has owned up to being the person (Sweden's Deep Throat) who leaked over 350 documents to Indian journalist Chitra Subramanian, who broke the story.

Lindstrom has revealed that there was no evidence to suggest that former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi had taken bribe in the Bofors deal.

However, he did not seem to have done much to prevent the cover up that followed in both India and Sweden to protect main accused Ottavio Quattrocchi, against whom, says Lindstrom, there was conclusive evidence.

Lindstrom also gives a clean chit to Bollywood actor Amitabh Bachchan and his family, saying that the story against them was planted in Swedish newspaper Dagens Nyheter by Indian investigators.

"They gave me a list of names to pursue, including the name of Amitabh Bachchan... During that trip to Sweden, the Indian investigators planted the Bachchan angle on DN," he says.

The Bofors case dates back to 1986, when Swiss arms manufacturer Bofors landed a 15 billion dollar contract to supply Howitzer Guns to India. A year later, Swiss media began reporting that the company had paid massive kickbacks to Indian politicians and defence officials. (ANI)