BackVVIP chopper deal: court reserves order of Gautam Khaitan’s bail
Khaitan's lawyer says complaint filed by Enforcement Directorate was not complete and his client should be enlarged on bail
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New Delhi: A Delhi court on Monday reserved for 20 December its order on the bail plea of businessman Gautam Khaitan, arrested by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in a money laundering case related to the ₹ 3,600-crore VVIP chopper deal.
During the proceedings, special CBI judge V.K. Gupta heard arguments from Khaitan’s lawyer P.K. Dubey who said that the complaint filed by ED was not complete and his client should be enlarged on bail. Dubey also argued that no public servants have been named as accused in the complaint and there was no allegation that bribe was given to anyone in the matter.
Countering his submissions, ED’s prosecutor Naveen Kumar Matta submitted that further probe in the matter was going on and the complaint filed against Khaitan and others was complete. He said that the Delhi high court, which had recently dismissed Khaitan’s bail plea, has directed the agency to complete investigation in the matter as soon as possible.
ED had earlier filed a charge-sheet against Gautam Khaitan and others, including two Italian nationals, in connection with its case. According to ED’s prosecutor, the agency has named Khaitan, his wife Ritu, Chandigarh-based firm Aeromatrix and two Italian men, Carlo Gerosa and Guido Haschke, as accused and they have been chargesheeted for the offences under the provisions of Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA). Khaitan was the first person to be arrested in September this year by ED in the chopper deal case in which CBI is also running a parallel probe.
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