NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Thursday asked the Chhattisgarh government to explain the bidding process for purchasing the AgustaWestland helicopter for VIP use in 2006-2007 as it wanted to understand whether any fraud or hanky-panky was committed.
“We are not questioning the choice of the helicopter made by the state government as it was an executive decision, but explain us as to how the bidding process for the chopper was conducted,” asked a bench
of Justices A K Goel and U U Lalit. The bench added that the case would be closed in case it is found that there is nothing wrong. The court was hearing a plea seeking investigation into the alleged irregularities in the purchase of the helicopter and also foreign bank accounts purportedly linked to the son of Chief Minister Raman Singh.
At the outset, advocate Prashant Bhushan, appearing for petitioner NGO Swaraj Abhiyan and leader of opposition and Congress leader
T S Singh Deo, said that the documents received under the RTI show that although Bell helicopter was denied bid, the government was still hiring it on rent.
Senior advocates Mahesh Jethmalani and Harish Salve, who appeared for the state government, said there was nothing wrong in the bid.