AgustaWestland: Court to pass order on ED's plea for NBW against Ratul Puri tomorrow

A special Delhi court will pass its order on a plea of the Enforcement Directorate (ED) seeking issuance of Non-Bailable Warrant (NBW) against businessman Ratul Puri, an accused in the AgustaWestland money laundering case on Friday.

After hearing arguments of the Special Public Prosecutor and Puri's advocate, Special CBI judge Arvind Kumar on Thursday reserved its order.

The ED's counsel, DP Singh submitted before the court that Puri did not join the investigation and it fears that the businessman will influence the witnesses.

Singh also argued that Puri, nephew of Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Kamalnath, may flee the country. "We have apprehension that he will flee," he said.

He also told the court that Puri skipped yesterday's questioning and his anticipatory bail was rejected by the same court.

Advocate Vijay Aggarwal, who is representing Puri, opposed the ED's application and moved an impleadment application, urging the court to record his submission.

On Tuesday, the same court had dismissed Puri's plea seeking an anticipatory bail.

The court in its order had said: "Considering the evidence collected so far by the ED and the serious nature of allegations, the gravity of the offense and the alleged conduct of the accused, the court did not find it fit to grant anticipatory bail to Puri."

The case pertains to alleged irregularities in purchase of 12 VVIP choppers for 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.