Wanchoo quizzed in VVIP copter scam, resigns

Just hours after the CBI questioned him in the AgustaWestland chopper case, Goa Governor B V Wanchoo stepped down on Friday, becoming the fifth UPA appointee to resign from the post.

Wanchoo was questioned as a witness in the bribery scandal linked to the AgustaWestland chopper deal, 10 days after M K Narayanan was quizzed by the CBI, following which he also quit as West Bengal governor. Wanchoo is the second sitting governor to face the CBI, the first being Narayanan.

The Goa governor, whose tenure was to end on May 4, 2017, has sent in his resignation, sources said.

Wanchoo was among those earmarked by the government to be removed as he was appointed by the previous UPA regime. The NDA was keen to replace him with its appointee in the Goa Raj Bhavan.

The government had also prodded these governors to quit on their own as a Supreme Court order does not allow summary dismissal.

Besides Narayanan and Wanchoo, B L Joshi (Uttar Pradesh), Shekhar Dutt (Chhattisgarh) and Ashwini Kumar (Nagaland) have quit. The tenures of Jagannath Pahadia (Haryana) and Margaret Alva (Rajasthan) are also ending soon.

Wanchoo was questioned in the probe into allegations of bribery in the Rs 3,600-crore VVIP chopper deal with AgustaWestland.

Wanchoo, then SPG chief, and Nayaranan, then National Security Adviser, were part of a meeting in 2005 that decided to tweak the technical specifications of the chopper, allegedly favouring AgustaWestland. The Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) had noted this point in its report. Both were questioned as witnesses as they were part of the meeting, sources said.

In a statement, Wanchoo said he was “pleased” to give his statement in connection with the alleged bribery scandal. He also said he “was very keen” that the statement be recorded at the earliest for the purpose of completing the legal process in the case.

Wanchoo said he hoped that his “statement would have clarified any issues that the CBI may have had and that the agency would conclude the investigation to bring out the truth at the very earliest.”