India's former Air Force chief gets bail in chopper scam case

An Indian court Monday granted bail to India's former Air Force chief S.P. Tyagi, who was arrested earlier this month by the country's premier probe agency over allegations of corruption in a luxury helicopter deal with an Anglo-Italian company.

The special judge of the Central Bureau of Investigation's (CBI) court, Arvind Kumar, released Tyagi, a decorated war veteran, on a personal bond of 200,000 Indian rupees (3,000 U.S. dollars) and one surety of the same amount.

But the court has imposed certain riders on Tyagi's bail like restraining him from leaving Delhi and asking him not to attempt to influence any witnesses in the case that can hamper the CBI probe. Two other accused in the same case have, however, been denied bail by the court.

The corruption scandal pertains to a 753-million-U.S. dollar deal by India to acquire 12 VVIP choppers from AgustaWestland some five years back. It came to light after head of AgustaWestland's parent firm Finmeccanica Giuseppe Orsi was arrested in Milan in 2013 on bribery charges.

CBI, which registered a criminal case against Finmeccanica and AgustaWestland in March 2013, claims Tyagi had given the company "undue favours" and had channelled funds to bribe others for the deal to get luxury helicopters, intended to carry Indian President, Prime Minister and a few others.

India got three such choppers from the firm, but had cancelled the deal in 2014 after the scandal came to fore, following allegations that bribes of 68 million U.S. dollars were paid to Indian officials to secure the contract. Endit