India, Aug. 7 -- A Supreme Court bench on Thursday dismissed the last existing appeal against the 2005 Delhi high court judgment that quashed all criminal proceedings against the Hinduja brothers and Swedish arms manufacturer AB Bofors, effectively closing India's longest-running defence corruption case.

The judgment came nearly four decades after Swedish Radio first alleged that kickbacks had been paid to secure the sale of 400 howitzers to the Indian Army.

The bench of justices JB Pardiwala and K Vinod Chandran declined to grant more time to advocate Ajay K Agrawal, who had challenged the high court verdict as a private appellant.

"What is all this about the Hinduja brothers and CBI?" the bench asked at one point.

Told that the high...