Aviation scam: Court grants bail to close aide of lobbyist Deepak Talwar

A Delhi court Friday granted bail to Yasmin Kapoor, a close aide of co-accused and corporate lobbyist Deepak Talwar, in a money laundering case related to negotiations that allegedly favoured foreign private airlines causing losses to state-owned Air India.

Special Judge Anuradha Shukla Bhardwaj granted relief to the accused, saying she was not the main accused.

The ED had arrested Kapoor on October 3 after the court cancelled the anticipatory bail granted to her in the case after the probe agency's submitted that she was misusing the bail.

Talwar was deported from the UAE in connection with the money laundering case.

The ED had earlier said that it needed to interrogate Yasmin and Talwar to get the names of Ministry of Civil Aviation, National Aviation Company of India Ltd and Air India officials, who had favoured the foreign airlines, including Qatar Airways, Emirates and Air Arabia.

The agency had claimed that entities directly or indirectly controlled by the accused received exorbitant amounts from Qatar Airways, Emirates and Air Arabia and submitted a chart of a total of USD 60.54 million allegedly received by firms directly or indirectly owned by Talwar between April 23, 2008 and February 6, 2009.

Talwar's alleged role in some aviation deals during the previous Congress-led UPA regime at the Centre was also under the scanner.

He was booked by the ED and the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in criminal cases of corruption, while the Income Tax department charged him with tax evasion.