AgustaWestland case: Ratul Puri withdraws petition seeking hearing on applications before bail order

Businessman Ratul Puri, who is under the scanner for allegedly receiving kickbacks in the AgustaWestland chopper scam, on Tuesday withdrew a petition from the Delhi High Court, which had sought a direction to the special CBI court to hear two of his applications before passing an order on his anticipatory bail plea.

Senior Advocate Abhishek Manu Singhvi, appearing for Ratul Puri, mentioned the matter before Justice Sunil Gaur.

The trial court is slated to deliver an order on his anticipatory bail plea today.

The businessman had moved the High Court pleading to reserve the order on the bail plea, contending that the trial court has not yet decided on his application seeking the supply of section 50 statement under Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) and the Enforcement Case Information Report (ECIR).

He also sought an extension of protection from arrest granted to him in connection with the money laundering case connected with the Rs3,600 crore VVIP chopper deal.

The interim protection from arrest granted to him by a special court will end today.

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) is probing Puri's alleged role in the multi-crore scam and has been seeking the businessman's custody to further investigate the matter.

During the course of hearing last week, Special Public Prosecutor DP Singh, who is representing the ED, had told the court that Puri, nephew of Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Kamal Nath, was very influential and might flee the country.

The case pertains to alleged irregularities in purchase of 12 VVIP choppers from Italy-based Finmeccanica's British subsidiary AgustaWestland.

The deal was scrapped by the NDA government in 2014 over the alleged breach of contractual obligations and charges of payment of kickbacks for securing the deal.