The Central Bureau of Investigation conducted searches against three suspects in the AgustaWestland VVIP chopper deal case and seized about Rs. 85 lakh in cash. Jewellery worth over Rs.1 crore were also found in two lockers.
According to the agency, the searches were carried out in Delhi against Sunil Kothari, who is the managing director of Om Metals Pvt. Ltd; and on the premises of one N.K. Jain of Abhinandan Vanijya Pvt. Ltd and his associate Rajesh Jain in Kolkata.
The agency has accused them of laundering the proceeds of crime, which they got in cash from the middlemen, through shell companies. The money purportedly came from Sanjeev Tyagi, who is the cousin of former Air Chief Marshal S.P. Tyagi, and lawyer Gautam Khaitan.
“The searches were conducted at Kothari’s official premises in Delhi’s Pushp Vihar and two residential premises in Sainik Farms. While Rs.55.68 lakh in cash was seized from him, the CBI team found jewellery worth Rs.60 lakh and Rs.2 lakh in cash in his wife’s locker. In his daughter-in-law’s locker, gold and diamond jewellery worth Rs.49 lakh were found,” said an official.
The CBI claims to have seized Rs.29 lakh in cash from the premises of N.K. Jain. In all, six lockers have been identified during the searches.
“It was alleged that the then Chief of Air Staff (S.P. Tyagi) entered into a criminal conspiracy with the other accused persons and conceded to change the Air Force’s consistent stand that service ceiling of VVIP helicopters should be 6,000 metres. The ceiling was brought down to 4,500 metres, which helped AgustaWestland bid for the contract,” said the official.
The CBI alleges that besides the reduction in service ceiling, a new operational requirement for the cabin height of at least 1.8 metres was introduced for the first time. Requirement with regards to the number of engines was also tweaked without assigning any reason.
On September 1, the agency had filed a charge sheet against the retired Air Chief Marshal, former Air Marshal J.S. Gujral and 10 others.
Among those named were Sanjeev Tyagi, Khaitan, alleged middlemen Christian Michel, Carlo Gerosa and Guido Haschke, former AgustaWestland CEO Bruno Spagnolini and former Finmeccanica chairman Giuseppe Orsi, besides Italian company Finmeccanica, its subsidiary AgustaWestland and IDS Tunisia.
The charge sheet alleges that the chopper deal caused a loss of 398.21 million euros (about ₹2,666 crore) to the exchequer.
The CBI has now approached Italian authorities requesting Gerosa’s extradition. The alleged middleman was recently detained by the Italian Police on the Enforcement Directorate’s request.