AgustaWestland case: CBI court reserves order on Sushen Gupta's bail plea

A special CBI court on Tuesday reserved its order for June 1 in a bail application filed by Sushen Mohan Gupta, an alleged middleman in the Rs 3,600-crore AgustaWestland VVIP chopper scam case.

During the course of hearing, senior advocate Siddhartha Luthra, appearing on behalf of Gupta, contended that the latter will not leave the trial as his whole family lives in India.

Special Public Prosecutor DP Singh, representing Enforcement Directorate said that the law enforcement agency has a "substantial proof" that Interstellar technology, a company which received the AgustaWestland kickbacks, is related to Gupta.

"This is not a mini-trial. We have to go in depth as these cases are new in the country. We have apprehensions. We are reaching out to people who can corroborate the documents. We are reaching towards the last mile connectivity," said SSP DP Singh during the court proceeding.

After hearing the arguments, Special CBI Judge Arvind Kumar reserved the order on the bail plea.

On May 22, ED had filed a fifth supplementary charge sheet in which it named Gupta along with two other firms. On May 24, the court issued a notice to Gupta and the firms in a charge sheet filed by the agency. The court had also extended his judicial custody.

ED, in the last hearing, had contended that it has clinching evidence against Gupta for his role in the deal and various other defence deals.

During the proceedings, Senior Public Prosecutor DP Singh, appearing for the agency, had said that the ED has seized pen drives allegedly belonging to Gupta.

"Different e-mail identities that were being used are also mentioned in the charge sheet and we have corroborated that they belong to him. The instructions had gone through these emails identities," he submitted.

Singh said that in public interest, accused-turned approver Rajiv Saxena's statement in addition to diaries recovered from him and Gupta have been handed over to the court in the sealed cover.

Gupta was arrested on March 26 by the ED on charges of money laundering.

( With inputs from ANI )