Why did CBI arrest me 3 years after the FIR, asks SP Tyagi

Former IAF chief Shashindra Pal Tyagi has questioned his arrest on the basis of a three-year gap between the registration of the FIR by the CBI and the date of his arrest. Tyagi, in his bail application, asks why he was summoned in May , 2016 when the CBI lodged an FIR in March 2013. He has also said that the purchase order and trail run of the choppers in question happened many years after his retirement.

In the bail plea filed through his counsels R Sasiprabhu and Menaka Guruswamy , Tyagi says, “No reason has been forthcoming from the CBI as to why custodial interrogation of the applicant was required at this stage or at all.“

The CBI registered the FIR against Tyagi on March 12, 2013 and arrested him on December 9this year. He has been accused of allegedly rigging operational requirements, including bringing down the operational flying ceiling from 6,000 metres to 4,500 metres, to help AgustaWestland bag the 3,564-crore order for 12 helicopters.

Tyagi's bail plea says that on November 19, 2003 the principal secretary to the then PM had observed in a meeting that due to the single vendor situation, and since the PM and President rarely flew to altitudes beyond 4,500 metres, the operational requirements were to be reduced from 6,000 metres to 4,500 metres. Denying any of Tyagi's complicity in the case, the bail plea argues, “Also, there is no allegation that the applicant ever attended any meeting or saw any file relating to this procurement proposal.“

Apart from Tyagi, his cousin Sanjeev Tyagi and lawyer Gautam Khaitan, who are coaccused in the case, also moved their respective bail applications, which the court put for arguments on December 21.All three men were sent to judicial custody till December 30.