Fernandes wants apology from Cong for 'coffingate' allegations

New Delhi, Aug 24 (PTI) With his name not figuring in the
CBI (Central Bureau of Investigation) chargesheet in the
coffin scam, former defence minister George Fernandes Monday
demanded an apology from Congress for alleging his involvement
in the 2002 case.

"I needed no 'clean chit' from the CBI to know that the
aluminium casket purchase issue had never even come to my
table during my tenure as defence minister let alone my
drinking the blood of martyrs, as the Congress accused me of
doing," the JD-U leader said in a press statement here.

Fernandes had come under the scanner following
allegations that poor quality aluminium caskets were bought
from the US at "exorbitant rates" to transport bodies of
Kargil martyrs.

The CBI filed a chargesheet in the scam on August 19
against four persons, including two retired Army officials and
one serving officer, but did not name the ex-minister.

Accusing the Congress of "demoralising" the troops by
launching a "false political attack" on him, Fernandes said,
"Can we expect even a squeak of an apology?" PTI SDG
JVN