The Central Bureau of Investigation has issued lookout notice for the former Chief of the Air Staff, S.P. Tyagi, his three cousins and five other Indians who have been named in its FIR on alleged kickbacks received by them from AgustaWestland in the Rs.3,600-crore VVIP chopper deal.
Sources in the CBI said the notice was issued at airports to prevent them from leaving the country.
Air Chief Marshal (retd.) S.P. Tyagi this Wednesday became the first IAF Chief to be booked by the CBI — along with 12 others — for alleged cheating, corruption and criminal conspiracy in the deal and searches were carried out at 14 locations, including his residence.
The former IAF Chief, his cousins — Sanjeev alias Julie, Rajeev alias Docsa and Sandeep and European middlemen Carlo Gerosa, Christian Michel and Guido Haschke were among the 13 individuals named in the FIR as accused.
The CBI alleged that during his tenure as Air Chief Marshal, the IAF agreed “to reduce the [mandatory] service ceiling for VVIP helicopters from 6,000 m to 4,500 m”, a source in the CBI said.
It alleged that reduction of service ceiling — maximum height at which a helicopter can perform normally — allowed the AgustaWestland to come into the fray as, otherwise, its helicopters were not even qualified for submission of bids. Two new names, which were not part of the CBI’s preliminary inquiry, have also been included in the FIR. — Satish Bagrodia, brother of former Union Minister Santosh Bagrodia, and IDS Infotech CMD Pratap Aggarwal, it said. —
