Court allows ED to interrogate Ratul Puri in Tihar

A Special court at the Rouse Avenue Court Complex here on Monday allowed the Enforcement Directorate to further interrogate businessman Ratul Puri in Tihar jail for three days in connection with Rs 3,600 crore AgustaWestland VVIP chopper money laundering case.

Puri, who is the nephew of Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Kamal Nath, is accused of allegedly receiving kickbacks in the deal. He was arrested by the ED on September 3.

Special judge Arvind Kumar permitted the law enforcement agency to probe Puri from October 22 to 24. It also allowed counselor access to Ratul Puri's lawyer for 30 min on the same days.

This came after the agency moved an application in the court and cited in a sealed cover several reasons to conduct the interrogation.

Special Public Prosecutor D P Singh and advocate N K Matta, representing the ED, submitted that they want to confront Puri with a witness. They, however, did not disclose the name owing to the possibility of an attempt to influence the witness.

Puri's counsel Vijay Aggarwal did not object to the plea and contended that his client will duly cooperate.

The case pertains to alleged irregularities in the 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.