Christian Mitchell James, accused in the 3600 crore AugustaWestland helicopter scam, has been granted bail by the Supreme Court on Tuesday (February 18, 2025). The Supreme Court has given this bail in the case registered by the CBI. A bench of Justice Vikram Nath and Justice Sandeep Mehta has granted bail on the basis of being in jail for 6 years. The bench said that the trial in the lower court has not ended yet. This will probably not be completed even for 25 years. No one can be kept in jail forever.
The Supreme Court has placed a condition that Christian Mitchell should submit his passport. He cannot leave India at the moment. The Supreme Court has said that the remaining conditions will decide the lower court. However, due to lack of bail in the case filed by ED, he will remain in jail at present. The bail petition in the ED case is pending in the Delhi High Court.
What is the AugustaWestland scam?
In 2013, a scam of thousands of crores of rupees was revealed in the VVIP helicopter purchase during the UPA government led by Manmohan Singh in 2006 and 2007. At that time, many senior people, including late Ahmed Patel, advisor to the then Congress President Sonia Gandhi, were accused of bribing. One of the main accused in the scam, British citizen Christian Mitchell was extradited from Dubai (UAE) to India in December 2018.
What has Michelle said?
Mitchell has said in a petition filed in the Supreme Court that he has spent more than 6 years in jail. The streams that were told to the UAE government at the time of his extradition have a maximum of 5 years of punishment. Mitchell’s lawyer told the court that many accused of the scam have been released on bail but the lower court and the High Court did not give him relief.
CBI stand
Earlier too, Christian Mitchell had sought bail from the Supreme Court. The court then asked him to go to the lower court. Last time, Additional Solicitor General SV Raju, presented for the investigating agency, had said that the extradition treaty with UAE provides that the accused can be imposed on the accused later as well. Several sections including Section 467 of the IPC have been added against him in the charge sheet. They can be punished up to life imprisonment, therefore, should not be released. SV Raju also emphasized that Mitchell could be brought to India after much efforts.
What was said in the new petition?
Advocate Alzo Joseph, appearing for Mitchell, demanded regular bail until the case was pending. He said that thousands of pages related to the case are to be seen during the trial. Hundreds of people have to be testified. All this will take a lot of time. If an Indian citizen had a situation like him, he would have been released, therefore, Christian Michelle should no longer be kept in jail.