PANAJI: Hours after the Union government informed the Supreme Court that documents related to the procurement of 36 Rafale fighter aircraft were stolen, the Congress party said that the Supreme Court should take cognizance of the leaked audio tape where health minister Vishwajit Rane purportedly insists that Goa chief minister Manohar Parrikar is in possession of all the files related to the contentious contract.

While Goa Congress president Girish Chodankar stopped short of calling for an investigation into the theft of files, Chodankar said that Parrikar could offer the “first lead” if such an investigation was held.

“The Supreme Court should take cognizance of the matter and the first lead is the audio tape and the chief minister who is the former defence minister,” Chodankar said.

On January 2, the Congress party released an audio clip in which Rane is purportedly heard boasting that Parrikar possessed files related to the Rafale deal in his bedroom. The audio recording, according to the Congress, was a telephone conversation between the former Congress MLA and an unidentified journalist after the cabinet meeting in December 2018.

