VVIP chopper case: Delhi court extends ED custody of Rajeev Saxena by four days

New Delhi: A Delhi court Monday extended by four more days the ED custody of Rajeev Saxena, an accused in the Rs 3,600-crore AgustaWestland case.

Saxena, a Dubai-based businessman, was extradited from Dubai on January 31 and sent to four-day custody of the Enforcement Directorate (ED) the same day.

The court had allowed his custodial interrogation after the agency alleged that he and another accused provided global corporate structure to launder money.

The ED had alleged that in connivance with another accused, Guatam Khaitan, a Delhi-based lawyer, Saxena provided a global corporate structure for laundering illegal proceeds of the crime for payment to various political persons, bureaucrats and Air Force officials to influence the contract to supply 12 VVIP helicopters in favour of AgustaWestland.

On January 1, 2014, India scrapped the contract with Finmeccanica's British subsidiary AgustaWestland for supplying 12 AW-101 VVIP choppers to the IAF over alleged breach of contractual obligations and charges of kickbacks of Rs 423 crore paid by it to secure the deal.