New Delhi, April 25 - Political parties who had been misleading the nation on the issue of the Bofors gun deal should apologise, the Congress said Wednesday after former Swedish police chief Sten Lindstrom gave a clean chit to the late Rajiv Gandhi in the bribery sandal

"The statement of former Swedish police officer has given a clean chit to former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi," said Congress spokesperson Rashid Alvi.

In an interview to website thehoot.org, Lindstrom, who had operated under pseudonym Swedish Deep Throat, said there was no evidence to show that Gandhi had taken a bribe in the Rs.1,500 crore Bofors deal in the 1980s. But he also said that Gandhi did not stop the cover-up to protect Italian businessman Quattrochchi.

Addressing reporters, Alvi also said: "The statement of former Swedish police officer should not be given too much importance in India."