AgustaWestland: Court rejects Christian Michel's plea for release

A Delhi court has rejected the plea of alleged middleman Christian Michel James seeking release in the AgustaWestland VVIP chopper case on the grounds that he had undergone the maximum period of sentence of seven years for the purported offences.

In an order dated August 7, Special Judge Sanjay Jindal said, "Considering the allegations under Section 467 (forgery of valuable security, will etc.) of the IPC which entails life imprisonment, it cannot be said that the accused has already undergone the period of maximum punishment prescribed for the alleged offences." It said the question whether IPC section 467 was made out against James would be decided at the stage of framing of charges, and it cannot be said now that the offence cannot be attributed to him.

The court underlined that various issues raised by Michel, including his release, have already been considered by the Supreme Court, Delhi High Court and the present court.

"It has been held in categorical terms that the plea of the accused that he is entitled to the benefit under Section 436A of CrPC cannot be accepted as besides the provisions of Sections 415 (mischief) and 420 (cheating) read with 120 B (criminal conspiracy) of the IPC and section 8 (offence related to bribing a public servant )of the Prevention of Corruption Act, the accused is alleged to have committed offence under Section 467 of the IPC which is punishable up to life imprisonment," the court said.