NEW DELHI: In a stunning development, the CBI arrested former IAF chief Shashindra Pal Tyagi for allegedly taking bribes in the purchase of 12 helicopters from Anglo-Italian company AgustaWestland at a cost of Rs 3,546 crore in 2010.
Along with Tyagi – the first former chief of a defence service to be arrested for corruption – his cousin Sanjeev, alias Julie Tyagi, and one of the alleged middlemen, Delhi-based lawyer Gautam Khaitan, were also arrested under provisions of the Prevention of Corruption Act.
The CBI claimed it had foolproof evidence to justify the unprecedented step. “I won’t be able to share the evidence but I can tell you that there was sufficient material available against him for effecting an arrest,” acting CBI director Rakesh Asthana told.
Sources said the agency had mapped the trail of bribes which AgustaWestland paid to bag the deal – Rs 452 crore, or 12% of the total value of the deal, out of which Rs 414 crore came to Indian officials. Sanjeev Tyagi and Khaitan were earlier arrested by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in the same case for allegedly receiving bribes to exert influence on the former IAF chief to help AgustaWestland bag the order.
The case against the former air force chief is that he took bribes through middlemen from AgustaWestland to change the specifications of the contract -reducing the operational flight ceiling from 6,000 metres, as originally proposed, to 4,500 metres, and bringing down the cabin height to 1.8 metres.
