DELHI: A Delhi Court has directed the CBI to file a detailed affidavit on the "critical information" supplied by the United Kingdom on charges against British Citizen Christian Michel, an accused and alleged middleman in the VVIP helicopter scam case.
Asking the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to file an affidavit by November 2, Special Judge Arvind Kumar posted the matter for further hearing on November 3.
An application has been moved by Adv Aljo K Joseph, on behalf of Michel, after the denial of CBI to provide the information received from the UK through rogatory channels.
Michel was extradited from Dubai on December 4, 2018, and he has been in judicial custody since then.
The entire charge sheet was filed on November 26 last year. However, the applicant argued that the non-supply of a list of documents, which are un-relied and not provided to him.
In the probing part, it was revealed by sources that Investigating Officer R A Yadav has been removed and a new IO is likely to be appointed.
In his application, Michel argued that the majority of the documents were not provided to him and that the conduct of the CBI was absolute suppression of material facts before the trial court. Selective supply of the documents and the list of unrelied documents has become a grave issue in the present case, it was stated.
"..the procedure adopted by CBI in non-disclosure of material facts to the court and only such disclosure happened when the applications were made before the court, indicate that the investigation and procedure followed lacks confidence, fairness in the investigation and also transparency," the application reads.
Michel had also approached the Supreme Court against Delhi High Court's order refusing to grant him bail on the ground that he covered u/s 436A of CrPC which deals with the maximum period for which an under-trial prisoner can be detained.
He had stated in his plea that he had covered 50 per cent of his maximum sentence which according to sections 8 and 9 of the Prevention of Corruption Act was 5 years.
The CBI had alleged that there was an estimated loss of Euro 398.21 million (about Rs 2666 Crore) to the exchequer in the deal that was signed on February 8, 2010, for the supply of VVIP choppers worth Euro 556.262 million.
ED had also filed a chargesheet against Michel in June 2016, alleging that he had received EUR 30 million (about Rs 225 crore) from AgustaWestland.