CBI names former air chief Tyagi in chopper deal case

New Delhi: The Central Bureau of Investigation on Monday registered a preliminary enquiry against 11 people, including former chief of air staff S.P. Tyagi, and four companies in the $750 million (Dh2,75 billion) deal for the purchase of 12 VVIP helicopters from AgustaWestland.

He is the second former defence services chief to be named in the agency probe.

Former Admiral Sushil Kumar was named in a CBI case to probe the alleged kickbacks in the purchase of Barak missiles in early 2000.

Apart from Tyagi, the enquiry names ‘Julie’ Tyagi, Docsa Tyagi, Sandeep Tyagi, Gautam Khaitan and Praveen Bakshi.

Others named include Giuseppe Orsi, the former CEO of Italian defence major Finmeccanica, Bruno Spagnolini, CEO of AgustaWestland, a Britain-based subsidiary of Finmeccanica, and Guido Ralph Haschke, Karlo Valentino, Ferdinando Gerosa, and Christian Michel.

The firms named are Finmeccanica, AgustaWestland, IDS Infotech Ltd. (India) and Aeromatrix India.

A CBI and defence ministry team had gone to Italy last week to collect documents concerning the controversial deal.