The Supreme Court on Friday sought response from the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on a bail plea of Christian Michel – British national – an alleged middleman accused in the Rs. 3,600 crore AgustaWestland VVIP chopper scam involving the purchase of 12 VVIP helicopters.

Issuing notice to the CBI on Michel’s bail plea, a bench of Justice Vikram Nath and Justice Prasanna B Varale gave four weeks to the investigating agency to submit its response.

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Michel approached the top court against the September 25, 2024, Delhi High Court order denying his plea for bail. Earlier, trial court had rejected Michel’s plea for release from custody. Christian Michel James was extradited in 2018 after India won the extradition case in Dubai. He is in judicial custody since then.

Earlier on February 7, 2023, the Supreme Court had refused bail to Christian Michel James. He is being prosecuted both by the CBI and the Directorate of Enforcement. Refusing bail to him, the top court had rejected his argument that he be released on bail as he has already undergone half of maximum sentence in the cases cannot be accepted. However, it had also said that James may pursue his remedy of regular bail before trial court in the case.

James had sought bail under section 436A of Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC) which says that a person can be released on bail if he has completed half of the maximum sentence prescribed for the offence.

Christine Michel James had challenged the March 11, 2022, Delhi High Court order March 11, 2022, dismissing his bail pleas both in the CBI and ED cases. He is among the three alleged middlemen being probed in the case. The other two are Guido Haschke and Carlo Gerosa.

In 2022, the Michel had contended before the High Court that all the other accused in the case got bail in 60 days and he is the only one who hasn’t been given bail and is suffering incarnation. A Dubai-based businessman Rajeev Saxena – a co-accused in the case – was extradited to India on January 31, 2019.