AgustaWestland case: Ratul Puri gets bail by court in money laundering scam

Rahul Puri accused in AgustaWestland money laundering case, granted bail by Delhi court on Monday. Ratul Puri will, however, remain in jail as he was also arrested in another case - the one related to bank fraud.

New Delhi: A Delhi court on Monday granted bail to businessman Ratul Puri, nephew of Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Kamal Nath, in AgustaWestland money laundering case. Special Judge Arvind Kumar granted bail to Puri on a personal bond of Rs 5,00,000 and two sureties of like amount.

Ratul Puri will, however, remain in jail as he was also arrested in another case - the one related to bank fraud.

Special Judge Arvind Kumar granted bail to Puri on a personal bond of Rs 5 lakh and two sureties of like amount.

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) had on Tuesday opposed the bail application of businessman Ratul Puri in the money laundering case related to the VVIP chopper scam.

The probe agency told Special Judge Arvind Kumar that the stage was not fit to release Puri on bail since the investigation was ongoing.

The court reserved the order in the regular bail application and was likely to pass an order on December 2.

In his bail plea, Puri had said that he was not required for further investigation and no purpose will be served by keeping him in custody.

The ED had recently filed a supplementary Prosecution Complaint against Puri and Jaspreet Ahuja in the Rs 3,600-crore AgustaWestland VVIP chopper deal case.

In January 2014, India had scrapped a contract with Finmeccanica's British subsidiary, AgustaWestland, for supplying 12 VVIP choppers to the Indian Air Force (IAF), over alleged breach of contractual obligations and charges of kickbacks worth Rs 423 crore being paid to secure the deal.