Delhi court grants bail to Ratul Puri in AgustaWestland money laundering case

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

A Delhi court on December 2 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 Mr. Puri on a personal bond of ₹5 lakh and two sureties of like amount.

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

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

The Enforcement Directorate had recently filed a supplementary Prosecution Complaint against Puri and Jaspreet Ahuja in the ₹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, over alleged breach of contractual obligations and charges of kickbacks worth ₹423 crore being paid to secure the deal.