NEW DELHI: Ratul Puri, nephew of Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Kamal Nath, is threatening witnesses in a money laundering case related to the AgustaWestland VVIP chopper scam, ED told a Delhi court Wednesday.
Seeking his custodial interrogation, the Enforcement Directorate made the claim before special judge Arvind Kumar during the hearing of anticipatory bail application filed by Puri.
The court extended Puri's interim protection from arrest till Thursday after the arguments on the application remained inconclusive.
"Puri is threatening the witnesses. People are scared of him. There are various witnesses who allege Puri is pressurising them," the agency told the court.
The Income Tax Department, on the other hand, has unearthed fresh evidence in the above case on Wednesday after raiding a Hyderabad-based group which had purported dealings with Dubai-based accused in the case, Rajiv Saxena, the CBDT said on Wednesday.
It said in a statement that tax sleuths searched on July 24 the premises of a business group engaged in conducting seismic data analysis and four undisclosed foreign bank accounts, three un-reported companies based in tax havens, and unexplained cash of Rs 45 lakh and jewellery worth Rs 3.1 crore were recovered.
On January 1, 2014, India scrapped the contract with Finmeccanica's British subsidiary AgustaWestland for supplying 12 AW-101 VVIP choppers to the Indian Air Force over alleged breach of contractual obligations and charges of paying kickbacks to the tune of Rs 423 crore by it for securing the deal.