British national Christian Michel, arrested in the Rs 3600 crore AgustaWestland Chopper scam moved Delhi High Court for regular bail in both CBI and ED cases against him.

The alleged middleman in the Choppergate scandal has been languishing in Tihar Jail since 5th January 2019.

Declaring that he would submit to the court’s jurisdiction whenever called upon, Michel pointed out that the ingredients of the offences alleged have not been made out and the lower court committed error in its order.

The bail application pointed out that due to the integrity pact, all the money was recovered and government faced no financial loss.

It also says that he has been kept in custody for an indefinite period in the name of investigation and the same is against his right to life under Article 21.

Michel has relied, inter alia, on State of Kerala v Raneef (2011) where a bench of Justices Markandey Katju and Gyan Sudha Mishra had said,

“In deciding bail applications an important factor which should certainly be taken into consideration by the Court is the delay in concluding the trial. Often this takes several years, and if the accused is denied bail but is ultimately acquitted, who will restore so many years of his life spent in custody? Is Article 21 of the Constitution, which is the most basic of all the fundamental rights in our Constitution, not violated in such a case? Of course this is not the only factor, but it is certainly one of the important factors in deciding whether to grant bail.”

Michel’s application also mentions his co-operation with the authorities during the entire investigation including information on the location of parked money, which must instill confidence in his character to allow the bail application.

— India Legal Bureau