Agusta-accused Michel shares Tihar ward with Shahabuddin, Chhota Rajan

NEW DELHI: AgustaWestland accused Christian Michel has former MP Mohammad Shahabuddin and gangster Chhota Rajan as neighbours in Tihar Jail, according to a jail official’s statement made in a special court on Thursday. In response to Michel’s plea seeking treatment on a par with other prisoners, a deputy jail superintendent said he was kept in the same ward where the two inmates were lodged and that he was put there due to security reasons.

Michel’s plea said, “The accused is now kept in a solitary confinement [sic] in the high security jail along with other hardcore criminals. The liberty of the accused has been curtailed without due process of law.” Advocate Aljo K Joseph submitted before special judge Arvind Kumar that on February 18, 2019, jail officials conducted a search inside his client Michel’s cell on the information that he was using a laptop. Though they found nothing, it was only after the search, he was shifted to a solitary confinement high security cell with hardened criminals, he added. “Michel is kept in the same ward as Shahabuddin and Chhota Rajan, and a couple of Pakistani prisoners,” said Joseph.

To this, the deputy jail superintendent, appearing after a court notice, said that there were only Shahabuddin and Rajan in the ward and not Pakistani prisoners. Michel was shifted there in view of the high-profile nature of the case he was involved in, he added.


According to Joseph, Michel’s dairy containing his personal notes and business cards of officers of the British High commission went missing during the shifting. He further claimed that papers relating to the CBI case against him and three phone calling cards of Rs100 each had been misplaced in the process.

Considering the grievances raised in Michel’s application, judge Kumar asked: “For 70 days there was no issue. How come there is a security issue all of a sudden? There must be a reason behind it.” On not getting a satisfactory response, he directed the jail authorities to come back with a reply.

Michel has also said in his plea that Jail 2, where he is currently lodged, does not have proper doors and windows, and instead it is covered with plastic sheets. “The entire cell is an open one, even rainwater will fall inside the cell . The conditions of the toilets are pathetic,” his plea said.