Agusta middleman visited India 180 times between 2005 & 2013: Records

NEW DELHI: To the shock of investigators, the records of Foreign Regional Registration Office (FRRO) have revealed that the key middleman in VVIP chopper scam - Christian Michel - visited India no less than 180 times between 2005 and 2013. Interestingly, during these frequent visits, mostly to Delhi, Michel gave his "point of contact" in FRRO office as one ' Abhinav Tyagi' other than his associate J B Subramaniam, director in a shell firm, Media Exim Pvt Ltd, opened by Michel.

Agencies are trying to find out whether this 'Abhinav Tyagi' is related to Tyagi family, which allegedly received the bribes from the European middlemen. Both CBI and ED are probing the frequency of visits, especially the ones made between 2012 and 2013, when Italian authorities began investigations into the corruption scandal and ministry of defence referred a probe to CBI.

Michel is learnt to have fled as soon as investigations began here in India and never came back. He is reportedly living in UAE, where a request for arresting him has already been sent by ED.

"180 visits in 8-9 years definitely raise eyebrows. We are trying to find out who all he met other than Sanjeev Tyagi, his associates in his companies here - R K Nanda and J B Subramaniam and others. He mostly stayed in five-star hotels and his residence in Safdarjung Enclave worth Rs 1.2 crore which has already been attached," said a senior officer.

Meanwhile, CBI questioned R K Nanda on Tuesday apart from advocate Gautam Khaitan and two others.