6 months ago
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The Delhi High Court connected Monday (November 24, 2025) sought responses from the Centre, CBI and ED connected a plea by alleged middleman Christian Michel James, an accused successful the ₹3,600-crore AgustaWestland VVIP chopper scam case, challenging a proviso of the India-UAE extradition treaty.
A seat of Justices Vivek Chaudhary and Manoj Jain asked the Home Ministry, External Affairs Ministry, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and the Enforcement Directorate (ED) to record their objections regarding maintainability of Michel's petition.
The High Court listed the substance for adjacent proceeding connected April 9, 2026.
In his petition, Mr. Michel has challenged Article 17 of the treaty, signed successful 1999, which allows the requesting authorities (in this lawsuit India) to prosecute extradited persons not lone for the circumstantial offence for which extradition was done, but besides for connected offences.
The lawyer for Mr. Michel, who was extradited from Dubai successful December 2018 nether this treaty, argued that an extradited idiosyncratic tin beryllium prosecuted lone for the offences for which the extradition took place, and not for connected offences.
After his extradition, Mr. Michel was arrested by the CBI and the ED.
Mr. Michel besides challenged a proceedings court's bid dated August 7, which rejected his exertion nether Section 436A of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC) seeking to merchandise him from jail.
The lawyer said Mr. Michel volition implicit 7 years successful jailhouse connected December 4, 2025, and helium has not been released from situation adjacent once.
He said the probe successful the lawsuit has been going connected for the past 13 years and it has inactive not been completed.
Mr. Michel has already completed the maximum condemnation imaginable for the offences, that is 7 years, for which helium was extradited and that his continued detention successful India was illegal, his lawyer said.
Mr. Michel is among the 3 alleged middlemen being probed successful the case. The different 2 are Guido Haschke and Carlo Gerosa.
In its chargesheet, the CBI has alleged an estimated nonaccomplishment of 398.21 cardinal euros (about ₹2,666 crore) to the exchequer owed to a woody signed connected February 8, 2010, for the proviso of VVIP choppers worthy 556.262 cardinal euros.
The ED, successful its chargesheet filed against Mr. Michel successful June 2016, had alleged that helium received 30 cardinal euros (about ₹225 crore) from AgustaWestland.
