Christian Michel’s bail plea rejected in VVIP chopper case

A local court on Friday refused to grant bail to Christian Michel James, alleged middleman in the ₹3,600 crore VVIP chopper deal. This is for the fifth time that Michel's bail plea has been turned down.

Michel who was brought from Dubai to India in December 2018 has been in detention for nearly two and a half years. Turning down his bail, the court cited him as a “flight risk”. The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and the Enforcement Directorate (ED) had strongly opposed Michel’s bail plea.

ET was the first to report on June 3 that the CBI told a local court that it was probing the involvement of “public servants of different departments” in the VVIP helicopter scandal.


“Further investigation is at a very crucial stage on certain key aspects including the involvement of other accused public servants of different departments and private persons, who are suspected to be involved in this case, as well as to ascertain the beneficiaries of the bribe money,” the agency told a special CBI court last month.

The CBI had submitted this while opposing the bail application of Michel. The CBI had said that Michel enjoyed “close proximity with certain influential and powerful persons and is likely to tamper with the evidence and influence witnesses”.

The case is about alleged irregularities in swinging an Indian Air Force deal to purchase helicopters to transport VVIP passengers in favour of UK’s AgustaWestland. Michel has repeatedly denied involvement in the scandal.

The agency’s response to his bail application said the investigation “has international ramifications and therefore it is pending for want of complete execution of LRs (letters rogatory) sent to eight countries and such other reasons”.