Need to come out how charge sheet was leaked: CBI court in AgustaWestland deal case

It needs to come out how the charge sheet was leaked, said a Special CBI court here on Saturday while hearing a plea filed by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) seeking issuance of notice to a TV channel for leaking the document before cognisance of the matter was taken.

"It needs to come out how the charge sheet was leaked," said Special Judge Arvind Kumar while directing the agency to submit a report on the leaking of the document and posting the matter for hearing on April 11.

Over the ED's request for issuing a notice, the judge said that it will consider the move after considering the reply filed by the agency. It will file the reply in a sealed cover.

The agency requested the court seeking issuance of a notice to the TV channel for accessing the charge sheet before cognizance. ED also sought inquiry into the leaking of charge sheet matter.

It is to be noted that both ED and the alleged middlemen in the AgustaWestland deal Christian Michel have backed for issuing notice to the channel.

On Friday, Michel's counsel Advocate Aljo K Joseph told the court that a copy of the charge sheet was provided to media before it was provided to Christian Michel. He also pleaded that he had not named anyone during the probe.

Michel through his counsel Joseph raised questions on how the charge sheet was leaked to the media even before the consideration and the cognisance of the same could be taken. "Since 6 pm yesterday live debates have been going on," Joseph told the court.

On Thursday ED claimed that it traced the trail of 70 million euros that had come allegedly in the form of "kickbacks" in the Rs 3600-crore AgustaWestland VVIP chopper deal.

The ED has to probe who all received the kickbacks, the agency said, as it filed a supplementary charge sheet before a special CBI court here.

"We have traced the routing of 70 million euros that had come from AgustaWestland in the form of kickbacks," ED's counsel and Special Public Prosecutor DP Singh told Special CBI Judge Arvind Kumar.