DELHI COURT GRANTS BAIL TO RATUL PURI
A Delhi court on Monday granted bail to businessman Ratul Puri, nephew of Madhya Pradesh chief minister Kamal Nath, in AgustaWestland money laundering case. Special Judge Arvind Kumar granted bail to Puri on a personal bond of ~5 lakh and two sureties of like amount. Puri will however remain in jail as he was also arrested in another case — the one related to bank fraud. In his bail plea, Puri had said that he was not required for further investigation and no purpose will be served by keeping him in custody.
NEWDELHI:A Delhi court Monday granted bail to businessman Ratul Puri, nephew of Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Kamal Nath, in AgustaWestland money laundering case.
Special Judge Arvind Kumar granted bail to Puri on a personal bond of ~5 lakh and two sureties of like amount.
Puri will however remain in jail as he was also arrested in another case -- the one related to bank fraud.
In his bail plea, Puri had said that he was not required for further investigation and no purpose will be served by keeping him in custody.
The Enforcement Directorate had recently filed a supplementary Prosecution Complaint against Puri and Jaspreet Ahuja in the ~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 ~423 crore being paid to secure the deal.
The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) had booked Puri, a former executive director of Moser Baer, and other persons in connection with a ~354 crore bank fraud case that was filed by Central Bank of India, in August this year.
Besides Puri and the firm, his father and managing director Deepak Puri, directors Nita Puri (Ratul’s mother and Kamal Nath’s sister), Sanjay Jain and Vineet Sharma have also been booked for alleged criminal conspiracy, cheating, forgery and corruption.
Ratul Puri had resigned from the post of executive director in 2012, while his parents continue to be on the board, the bank said in a statement.