Michel in court but not Gupta, judge says he is 'surprised'

NEW DELHI: A special CBI court expressed “surprise” on Thursday when AgustaWestland VVIP helicopter scam accused Christian Michel was produced from custody but another accused, Sushen Mohan Gupta, wasn’t. The court was at the stage of summoning the accused following the filing of the Enforcement Directorate’s (ED) supplementary chargesheet.
The 52-page supplementary chargesheet, filed on April 4 along with over 3,000 pages of additional documents, came up with three new names — Michel’s business partner, David Syms, and his two companies, M/s Global Servics FZR, UAE, and M/s Global Trade & Commerce Ltd — in addition to the 38 previously accused in the case.
After Thursday’s hearing, special judge Arvind Kumar said in his order, “It is surprising that accused Christian Michel James is produced today, however, accused Sushen Mohan Gupta has not been produced on grounds of election duty of police officials... (sic).” “The jail superintendent shall explain why one accused has been produced and the other has not been produced on the grounds of election duty of police officials,” the court order said.