CBI to quiz own official in Agusta chopper scam case

Tip comes from governors questioned over the deal

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) may record the statement of one of its own senior officials who worked in the Special Protection Group during the previous National Democratic Alliance regime, in connection with the probe into the Rs 3,600-crore AgustaWestland chopper deal.

The agency is currently looking into the claims made by Andhra Pradesh and Telangana Governor E S L Narasimhan and former governors M K Narayanan and B V Wanchoo in connection with the probe.

After one of the three reportedly claimed that a meeting in 2003, when the NDA was in power, had changed the criteria in the deal, the agency has decided to look into these meetings too. The CBI had questioned the three governors, who were senior officials in the United Progressive Alliance regime, in the past fortnight as they were part of a meeting in 2005 that decided to tweak the chopper's technical specifications, which allegedly favoured AgustaWestland.

Narayanan, then National Security Advisor, and Wanchoo, then SPG chief, also attended the meeting along with Narasimhan, the then Intelligence Bureau chief.

During questioning, Wanchoo is believed to have told the CBI about the meeting attended by top officials of the Prime Minister's Office in 2003, during which it was decided to have “realistic operational requirement” after consulting the SPG.

To reach a logical conclusion in the case, said sources, the CBI would probe every aspect of it. This may also lead the investigators to record the statement of CBI Special Director Anil Kumar Sinha, who was then Inspector General in the SPG, they said.

The CBI has already registered a case against former Air Force chief S P Tyagi and 12 others, including his cousins Sanjeev, Rajeev and Sandeep, on charges of cheating, corruption and criminal conspiracy in the deal, in which Rs 360 crore was allegedly paid as bribe.

The Tyagis have denied their involvement.

The Enforcement Directorate has also registered a case against the Tyagis.

The CBI has already questioned several bureaucrats, including former Cabinet Secretary B K Chaturvedi and Comptroller and Auditor General Shashikant Sharma, who was Defence Secretary when the deal took place.

In April, former Cabinet Secretary (Security) Sudhir Kumar, former SPG Inspector General N Ramachandran, who retired as DGP Meghalaya, and former Defence Ministry Special Secretary (Acquisition) H C Gupta were examined by the agency as part of its probe.