ED opposes Ratul Puri's bail plea, matter to be heard on Nov 25

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Friday filed a response on the bail petition of businessman Ratul Puri in AgustaWestland money laundering case and opposed his release from the jail.

The court had recently sought a response from the ED on Puri's bail plea. Special CBI judge Arvind Kumar today heard the arguments in his plea and slated the matter for further hearing to November 25.

Senior advocate Vikas Pahwa, appearing for Ratul Puri told the court that there is no evidence that his client had received money through two channels.

Speaking on behalf of Puri, the counsel said: "I will be called an accused only if Agusta money comes into my account. The only allegation they have made is on Page 18 of the prosecution complaint. I am not the accused in the predicate offence. There is no direct evidence to show that I had received the money from two channels."

The ED had arrested Puri on September 4. He is currently in Tihar jail under judicial custody. Recently, the same court had taken cognisance of a sixth charge sheet filed by the ED in the case.

The ED, in its charge sheet, submitted that AgustaWestland gave 17 million Euros as kickbacks which reached the accused through two channels -- Interseller and the firms owned by Christian Michel, a middleman in the chopper deal.

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.