New Delhi, May 13 (IANS) A city court Thursday released the documents related to the Bofors payoff scam seized by it in 1997 from Win Chadha, an accused in the case, to his son.

Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Vinod Yadav handed the documents to Win Chadha's son Hersh Washesher Chadha after he filed a plea April 7, seeking release of the documents on the ground that there were no criminal proceedings pending in the case as the case against Italian businessman Ottavio Quattrocchi has been withdrawn.

Earlier, the court directed CBI to release the documents after the agency submitted that they have no objections to doing so.

The agency had four seizure memos dated May 1,1997 with regard to the documents and articles seized from the possession of Win Chadha, against whom criminal proceedings abated after he died on Oct 24, 2001.

The Bofors scandal was a major corruption scandal in India in the 1980s. The then prime minister Rajiv Gandhi and several others were accused of receiving kickbacks from Bofors AB who were awarded the contract for the supply of 155 mm field howitzers.

It also claimed that due to the kickbacks, India had to pay almost Rs.160 crore extra for the guns.