The Supreme Court on Friday stayed the Delhi High Court verdict, which rejected the ED's plea to abolish businessman Rajiv Saxena's status as an official witness in the AgustaWestland VVIP chopper scam.
A bench of Chief Justice SA Bobde issued notice to Saxena on the ED's plea. Saxena was brought to India from Dubai in January last year.
During the hearing in the Supreme Court, Additional Solicitor General Amal Lekhi, appearing for the ED, said, "The High Court's conclusion was clearly wrong that its amnesty can be terminated after giving testimony."
To this, the bench said, there is a provision in CRPC that if the witness fails to present any evidence then the apology given to him can be done away with. The High Court had said that Saxena's application in the lower court to terminate his status as an official witness was not considered as his statement was not recorded under Section 306 (4) of the CrPC.
The ED had requested the High Court to scrap Saksena's record of a government witness, as he had not informed of all the facts.