AgustaWestland case: Court allows CBI to further interrogate Christian Michel

A Delhi court on Friday allowed the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to further interrogate Christian Michel, an alleged middleman in the Rs 3,600 crore AgustaWestland VVIP chopper deal, in Tihar jail.

Michel was extradited from Dubai last year and is currently lodged in Tihar Jail in connection with alleged irregularities in the chopper deal.

The agency is probing his alleged role as a "middleman" in the deal.

Special Judge Arvind Kumar has allowed the CBI to interrogate him from September 24 and 26.

Out of the three days, the court allowed the agency to interrogate him for two days and take the specimen of his signature and handwriting for investigation on the third day.

Michel's lawyer Aljo K Joseph opposed the CBI's plea to interrogate him and said that more than five teams of the handwriting experts had collected his handwriting specimen during the custodial interrogation earlier.

"They directed the accused to write in a particular manner which matches with the handwriting in the documents which is in custody of the CBI," Joseph told the court.

The counsel for CBI, however, denied the allegations.

The court's order came after business Ratul Puri was sent to judicial custody in Tihar jail in connection with the case.

Puri is accused of receiving money from both money trails from Christian Michel and from the Interstellar in AgustaWestland.

The court had earlier rejected Michel's bail plea, asserting that the charges against him are 'serious'.