NEW DELHI: Tihar jail authorities on Thursday denied in court accusations of torture levelled by Christian Michel, the alleged middleman arrested in the AgustaWestland chopper scam case.
The authorities also told Special Judge Arvind Kumar that the accused had been granted all facilities according to the jail manual.
The official appearing for the jail also submitted before the court a hard disk containing CCTV footage, saying it showed that the accused was allowed to walk, access the canteen and meet other inmates.
Special Public Prosecutors D P Singh and N K Matta, appearing for the CBI and the ED respectively, told the court that the accused was a foreigner and was extradited to India.
“There is a responsibility of the country to ensure his security as per the treaty,” the counsel said.
The court had on March 11 allowed the ED to quiz Michel inside Tihar jail after the agency’s lawyer, Samvedna Verma, told the court that new facts had emerged in the case which merited his questioning.
The court will now hear the matter on March 16.
On March 12, Michel told the court that former CBI special director Rakesh Asthana met him in Dubai and threatened to “make his life hell inside jail” here if he did not toe the line of the agency.
“Sometime back Rakesh Asthana met me in Dubai and threatened that my life would be made hell in the jail and that’s what is going on. My next door inmate is (gangster) Chhota Rajan,” he said.