Chopper scam: No evidence against me, says Ratul Puri

Businessman Ratul Puri, the nephew of Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Kamal Nath, told a Delhi court on Monday that the Enforcement Directorate's case against him in the VVIP chopper scam was full of "contradictions" and that there was no evidence against him.

Puri sought bail from the court in a money laundering case related to the scam, saying he has three children to take care of and thousands of people are dependent on him.

Senior advocate Sidharth Luthra, appearing for Puri, told Special Judge Arvind Kumar that the documents ED was relying on were in the public domain and that no purpose will be served by keeping him in further custody.

The ED had arrested Puri on September 4 in the case and he is currently in judicial custody.

"Nothing can be more tragic than their records saying something else and they make out of it something completely different. It is time to consider it and tell them to stop. There are self-destructive contradictions which demonstrate that there is nothing against me," Luthra told the court.

Senior advocate Vikas Pahwa, also appearing for Puri, told the court that he was not going to run away if granted bail.

The court will further hear the matter on Tuesday when the ED is likely to make submissions against the bail application.

Puri moved the bail plea through advocate Vijay Agarwal, saying he was not required in custody for further investigation.

The Enforcement Directorate recently filed a supplementary Prosecution Complaint against Puri and Jaspreet Ahuja in the Rs 3,600-crore AgustaWestland VVIP chopper deal case.

In January 2014, India had scrapped a contract with Finmeccanica's British subsidiary, AgustaWestland, for supplying 12 VVIP choppers to the Indian Air Force over alleged breach of contractual obligations and charges of kickbacks worth Rs 423 crore being paid to secure the deal.