New Delhi, February 18 (HS): The Supreme Court has granted bail to Christian Michel, a British citizen accused in the Rs 3600 crore AgustaWestland helicopter scam case, in the CBI case. While granting bail, the bench headed by Justice Vikram Nath said that he will have to submit his passport while the rest of the bail conditions will be decided by the lower court.

The court said that Michel was brought from Dubai through extradition in 2018 and six years have been spent in jail and the trial is also getting delayed. However, even after getting bail from the Supreme Court, Michel will not be able to come out of jail because bail could not be obtained in the ED case. At the same time, the bail petition in the ED case is to be heard in the Delhi High Court tomorrow i.e. on February 19.

The ED arrested Michel in January 2019. Michel was extradited from Dubai and brought to India in December 2018. On 23 October 2020, the court took cognizance of the supplementary charge sheet filed by the CBI. 13 people have been made accused in the charge sheet. On 19 September 2020, the CBI filed a supplementary charge sheet.

13 people have been made accused in the charge sheet, including Christian Michel, Rajiv Saxena, Agusta Westland International director G Saponaro and Sandeep Tyagi, a relative of former Air Force chief SP Tyagi.

Hindusthan Samachar / Jun Sarkar