Special Judge Ajit Bharihoke, in a packed court room at Tis Hazari court complex, said he wanted to peruse originals of the 213 documents filed in support of the chargesheet and directed the CBI to bring them to the court on Thursday.

CBI counsel N Natrajan argued that "the agency did not bring the original papers concerning the case due to security reasons". He, however, did not elaborate what the security risks were. Natrajan, who has been made the special public prosecutor in the case, along with other CBI officials was with the special judge in the latter's chamber for half-an-hour. He latertold the reporters that "the court takes cognizance of a chargesheet only after perusing the original documents and there is nothing unusual about it".

The CBI has alleged that Quattrocchi and Chadha received huge amounts as kickbacks for getting the Rs 1,437 crore gun deal to the Swedish company A B Bofors and also named former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi in column two of the chargesheet saying "accused not sent for trial" as he was no more.

Several mediapersons including TV crew waited outside the court since morning for Wednesday's news event but the case was rescheduled for the post lunch session. The CBI has also named the Swedish company A B Bofors and its then chief Martin Ardbo as accused in the case.

The investigating agency alleged that Quattrocchi's A E Services received 7.3 million dollars while Chaddha's Swenska got 27 million dollars as kickback from A B Bofors for helping the latter in getting the contract in March 1986.

It had said that investigations were on to ascertain the role ofQuattrocchi's wife Maria, Chadha's son Harsh Chadha and three of Hinduja brothers in the 155 mm Howitzer gun deal in which the company allegedly paid Rs 64 crore as bribe to clinch the contract despite clear warnings from the Indian Government that there would be no middlemen in the deal.

The CBI said it was also probing the role of Hinduja brothers - G P Hinduja, Prakas Hinduja and Srichand Hinduja and others, and had sent letters rotatory to Switzerland, Sweden, Panama, Luxembourg, Bahama, Jordan, Liechtenstein and Austria in this regard.