Delhi: Special court allows ED to interrogate Ratul Puri in Tihar

A Special court at Rouse Avenue Court Complex in New Delhi on Monday, October 21, allowed Enforcement Directorate (ED) to furr interrogate businessman Ratul Puri in Tihar jail for three days in connection to a money laundering case involving a Rs 3,600 crore AgustaWestland VVIP chopper. tably, Ratul Puri was arrested by ED on September 3. Puri who is nephew of Mhya Presh Chief Minister Kamal Nath is accused of allegedly receiving kickbacks in deal.

Puri to be investigated from October 22 to 24

Special judge Arvind Kumar permitted Enforcement Directorate to investigate Puri from October 22 to 24. It also allowed counselor access to Ratul Puri's lawyer for 30 min on same days. This came after ncy moved an application in court and in a sealed cover, cited several reasons to conduct investigation. Special Public Prosecutor D P Singh and vocate N K Matta who are representing ED, submitted that y want to confront Puri with a witness. y, however, did t disclose name owing to possibility of an attempt to influence witness. Ratul Puri's counsel Vijay Aggarwal did t object to appeal and stated that his client will duly cooperate.

RE | Chopper scam: Delhi court extends judicial custody of Ratul Puri

Bank Fraud case and Agusta Westland 

47-year-old businessman has also been accused of a 354-crore bank fraud case, illegal transactions and tax evasion by Income Tax Department.  Enforcement Directorate h arrested Puri on August 20 in connection with its investigation into alleged laundering of money. Apart from Ratul Puri, his far and Managing Director of Moser Baer Deepak Puri, Directors Nita Puri (Ratul’s mor and Kamal Nath’s sister), Sanjay Jain, and Vineet Sharma h been under scanner and h been booked for alleged criminal conspiracy, cheating, forgery, and corruption.

RE | Ratul Puri's ED remand extended by 5 more days in AgustaWestland case 

NDA government scrapped deal

money laundering charge against businessman was filed following alleged irregularities in purchase of 12 luxury helicopters from Agusta Westland for VVIPs in 2007 under Congress-led government.  AgustaWestland deal was however scrapped by National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government in 2014 over alleged breach of contractual obligations and charges of payments of kickbacks for securing deal.

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(With ANI inputs)