India's new Congress government Monday scrapped an inquiry commission set up by its predecessor to probe a bribes-for-arms scandal and handed the job to the Central Bureau of Investigation.
The CBI - India's premiere investigating agency - will look into the role of "various personalities" in the sensational expose three years ago by a news portal (www.tehelka.com), Law Minister Hans Raj Bharadwaj told reporters.
The one-man Phukan commission of inquiry had become a political football between the previous Hindu nationalist BJP government and the Congress party which was in opposition before wresting power in May national elections.
The Congress had accused the BJP of "misdirecting" the probe by focussing more on the media company that conducted the sting operation and not on former defence minister George Fernandes and others accused in the scam.
In 2001, two journalists of "tehelka" (sensation) secretly videotaped politicians and officials taking bribes to help them get a fictitious military contract.
The scam blew up into a major political crisis for former prime minister Atal Behari Vajpayee who finally asked Fernandes - his defence minister - to step down before reinstating him a few months later.
A commission of inquiry was set up but the Congress charged the government with tampering with its terms of reference which they said focussed more on how the sting was carried out, whether the tapes were genuine and not on the minister and his officials.
Scrapping the Phukan commission was on the agenda since the Congress came to power.