VVIP chopper scam: Jailed James inspects unrelied documents at CBI HQ

Christian Michel James, the alleged middleman in the ₹3,600-crore VVIP chopper scandal, last week inspected documents pertaining to the case at the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) headquarters, said people in the know.

James, who has been in Tihar Jail for more than five years now, had moved an application in a local court seeking permission to inspect the documents which the investigative agency had not relied upon. His request was not opposed by the CBI.

The people cited earlier said James visited the CBI headquarters on September 30, October 1 and 3 to inspect the documents.


As per available information, the documents not relied upon by the CBI runs into more 300,000 pages. James is likely to seek time to inspect more documents, the people cited earlier said.

According to law, the documents not relied upon by an investigating agency are not supplied to the accused. But the accused has the legal right to personally inspect the same to build his/her defence and punch holes in the prosecution's case.

James was denied bail by the Delhi High Court last month. He was extradited from Dubai in December 2018, as first reported by ET.

Turning down James' bail plea last month, Justice Dinesh Kumar Sharma had held that there was no significant change in circumstances from the time when the accused's earlier bail pleas were rejected.

The court, however, deferred hearing till November on the bail plea by James in a related money laundering case being investigated by the Enforcement Directorate (ED).

James's bail plea had previously been dismissed by the trial court, which highlighted the severity of the charges and his potential flight risk.

The CBI, in September 2020, had filed a supplementary charge sheet against James and alleged middleman Rajiv Saxena and 13 others. It alleged that James had "conduits and contacts in the ministry of defence and Indian Air Force" and had access to confidential information pertaining to the deal.