Christian Michel James, the alleged middleman arrested in connection with the AgustaWestland VVIP chopper scam, on Thursday moved the Delhi High Court seeking interim bail, saying he was ill and susceptible to contracting coronavirus in the Tihar Jail.
Mr. James, in his petition, said he was 59-year-old and ill. “The agedness and a pre-existing ill state of health will make the Applicant’s body more susceptible to the said infection than any other ordinary prisoner with a normal health condition,” the plea stated.
The bail plea also referred to the Supreme Court’s March 16 order directing all the states and union territories (UTs) to constitute high-level committees to consider releasing prisoners and undertrials, for offences entailing up to a seven-year jail term, on parole or interim bail to decongest jails to contain the coronavirus pandemic.
Michel, extradited from Dubai, was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) on December 22, 2018.
On January 5, 2019, he was sent to judicial custody in the ED’s case. He is also lodged in judicial custody in another case registered by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in connection with the scam.
Michel is among the three alleged middlemen being probed in the cases filed by the ED and the CBI.
