Delhi court issues notice to ED on Michel's plea

New Delhi: A Delhi court Saturday issued notice to the Enforcement Directorate on plea of Christian Michel, alleged middleman arrested in the AgustaWestland VVIP chopper case, alleging the agency of politicising the case by leaking the chargesheet copy to the media. The agency, on the other hand, sought an enquiry as to how the copy of the charge sheet was leaked to the media and asked for issuance of notice to a news organisation asking to explain how they accessed the document.

Special judge Arvind Kumar issued notice to the agency and directed it to file a reply on Michel's plea, which had stated that he had not named anybody in connection with the deal during investigation by the ED and that even though the court has not taken cognisance over the documents filed before it, in order to make the entire case a sensation again in the media, the agency had leaked the charge sheet. The court will take up the matter of leaking of the charge sheet copy on April 11.

The court also issued summons to Michel's business partner and middleman David Nigel John Syms as accused in the case. Syms, named as accused in the charge sheet, will have to appear before court on May 9.