Tihar submits report on Christian Michel's plea

Tihar Jail officials on Thursday submitted a report in a Delhi court stating that alleged AgustaWestland VVIP chopper deal middleman Christian Michel is allowed to walk inside the prison and meet inmates.

The jail authorities handed over a list of facilities being provided to Michel inside the prison.

A jail official told Special Judge Arvind Kumar that Michel is allowed to access the canteen and denied the middleman's allegation that he was being kept in isolation.

The official also explained that the middleman has been kept in a separate cell due to security reasons.

The jail authority also submitted a hard disk to the court with CCTV footage that contained visuals from March 8 to 12, which showed Michel accessing the facilities.

Michel's advocates Aljo K. Joseph and Vishnu Sankar has requested the court to shift the British national from an isolation cell to a normal cell in jail number 7, where white-collar accused are housed.

The matter would come up for hearing next on Saturday.

The court had on March 5, directed Tihar Jail authorities to shift Michel to Jail number 1, 3 or 4, which are meant for keeping undertrials.

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

The Central Bureau of Investigation and the Enforcement Directorate had filed charge sheets in the Rs 3,600-crore AgustaWestland VVIP chopper deal case, naming Michel and others as accused.

--IANS

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