New Delhi: The Supreme Court dismissed a petition filed by Christian James Michel, an accused in the AgustaWestland chopper scam, seeking release from jail. Michel claimed that he had already served five years in jail, which is the maximum punishment for the offences for which he was extradited in 2018, and that the trial of the case has yet to begin.
A bench headed by Chief Justice of India (CJI) Dhananjaya Y Chandrachud refused to entertain the petition, questioning the filing of a writ petition under Article 32 of the Constitution.
Advocate Aljo K Joseph, representing Michel, informed the court that his release application was rejected by the trial court on February 23, based on a Supreme Court judgment of February 7, 2023. The judgment stated that Michel was not entitled to mandatory release as an undertrial upon completion of the maximum sentence, as the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) had filed an additional chargesheet accusing him under Section 467 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).
The bench observed that Michel was aggrieved by this finding and suggested filing a challenge to that order, questioning how the case fell under Article 32.
In his petition, Michel claimed that his liberty under the Constitution had been curtailed, and he was illegally detained in custody after completing the maximum sentence. He stated that as of December 5, 2023, he had spent five years in prison for offences related to deception and cheating under sections 415 and 420 of the IPC. He was extradited from Dubai on December 4, 2018, based on these charges. However, the CBI later added Section 467 of the IPC against him through supplementary chargesheets filed in September 2020 and March 2022.
The AgustaWestland scam, also being probed by the Enforcement Directorate (ED), is estimated to be about ₹3,700 crore. Michel, a British national, was accused of being the alleged middleman in the deal and was charged along with other accused under Section 8 of the Prevention of Corruption Act.
The trial in the case has yet to begin, with both the ED and CBI opposing Michel's bail, claiming him to be a flight risk with deep nexus and influence in the bureaucracy. The CBI has named former defence secretary Shashi Kant Sharma and four Indian Air Force (IAF) officers for allegedly favouring the firm in the controversial deal signed in 2010. Michel was named by the CBI in its September 2017 chargesheet, while the ED initiated a probe into the money trail following the payment of kickbacks in the deal.
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