Chargesheet leak: Michel seeks 'free and fair' trial

British national Christian Michel, the alleged middleman in the Rs 3,600-crore AugustaWestland VVIP chopper deal case, on Friday moved a Delhi court seeking a "free and fair" trial as the fresh supplementary chargesheet filed in the case was accessed by some media outlets.

Special Judge Arvind Kumar has asked the Enforcement Directorate (ED) to file response on the plea and listed the matter for further hearing on Saturday.

Michel's counsel Aljo Jospeh and Vishnu Shankar told the court: "It appears that ED has clandestinely provided a copy of the chargesheet to media houses and they are publishing the same in instalments only to sensationalise the issue and prejudice the accused named therein even before cognizance is taken by the court."

The defence counsel told the court that the chargesheet was filed on April 4 and at the time of filing of chargesheet, they had asked for a copy of the same.

But the prosecutor said that the court had not taken cognisance of the chargesheet, so it could not have been supplied to them at that point of time.

The defence counsel said that the government is using investigating agencies for political purposes and stated that the application states that the supply of the supplementary chargesheet is the best example of that.

The fresh supplementary chargesheet names Michel's partner David Syms and his company Global Services Ltd and Global Trading Ltd as accused in the case.

Michel was extradited to India on December 4, 2018 from the United Arab Emirates.

--IANS

akk/nir