AgustaWestland: Delhi court grants interim bail to Rajeev Saxena

New Delhi, Feb 14: Delhi's Patiala House Court on Thursday granted a 7-day interim bail to Rajiv Saxena, arrested in the Rs 3,600-crore AgustaWestland money laundering case. Saxena has to furnish two bail sureties of Rs 5 lakh each.

Special Judge Arvind Kumar, while granting the bail, asked AIIMS to file a detailed medical report on Saxena's health and posted the matter for hearing on February 22.

The Enforcement Directorate (ED), which had supported his bail plea yesterday, said the medical report submitted by AIIMS was not detailed.

In the previous hearing on Wednesday, the ED had said that it was not opposing Saxena's bail plea due to his medical condition and the fact that he was cooperating in the probe.

The court asked the lawyer appearing for the ED whether the bail was not being opposed on merits, to which he replied that he was relying only on Saxena's medical condition as he is suffering from leukamia.

To this, the court had said, "remember it will apply in other cases then. We are recording everything, whatever you are saying". Saxena had sought bail on medical grounds and told the court that he was suffering from a "heart disease" and "advanced-stage leukaemia" (blood cancer).

The court had on Wednesday directed the All India Institute of Medical Sciences to file a report on Saxena's medical condition.

Saxena is one of the accused named in the chargesheet filed by Enforcement Directorate (ED) in the case.

The agency had alleged that in connivance with another accused, Guatam Khaitan, a Delhi based lawyer, Saxena provided a global corporate structure for laundering illegal proceeds of the crime for payment to various political persons, bureaucrats and Air Force officials to influence the contract to supply 12 VVIP helicopters in favour of AgustaWestland.

The CBI and the ED have registered cases in the VVIP chopper case in which former Air Force chief S P Tyagi is one of the accused. Saxena was picked up by Dubai authorities in connection with the Rs 3,600-crore AgustaWestland VVIP choppers money laundering case and deported to India.