The Supreme Court on Friday dismissed a group of petitions that demanded an investigation into the controversial Rafale fighter jet deal, saying that it was satisfied that the process for procurement had been complied with.

There is no reason to doubt the decision-making process followed in the Rafale deal, the court said, in a verdict that will be seen by many as a victory for the Narendra Modi government.

The judgement was delivered by a three-judge bench comprising Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi, Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul and Justice K.M. Joseph.

According to oral remarks made by the bench, the apex court stated that it could not sit in judgement over the decision purchase 36 aircraft instead of 126. It is a “hard fact” that the 36-jet-deal was negotiated after the earlier RFP for 126 jets came to nothing, the court said.

Siddharth Varadarajan and Ajai Shukla discuss the questions that remain unanswered.

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Read The Wire‘s full coverage on the Rafale deal here.