Delhi HC asks for CCTV footage after Michel alleges torture

New Delhi: A Delhi court directed the Tihar jail authorities on Saturday to produce CCTV footage on allegations of torture levelled by Christian Michel, an alleged middleman arrested in the AgustaWestland choppers scam case.

Special judge Arvind Kumar directed the jail authorities to bring the CCTV recording of February 13 to 17 of jail number 7, where Michel was kept last month.  The court had earlier sought the CCTV footage of jail number 1 and after going through it, had noted that the premises were clean and that good facilities were provided to Michel.

On March 14, the jail authorities had denied the allegations of torture levelled by Michel. Special public prosecutors D.P. Singh and N.K. Matta, appearing for the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and the Enforcement Directorate (ED) respectively, had told the court that the accused was a foreigner and was brought to India through extradition.

ED’s counsel Samvedna Verma had told the court that “there is a responsibility of the country to ensure his security as per the treaty”. On March 12, Michel had told the court that former CBI special director Rakesh Asthana had met him in Dubai and had threatened to “make his life hell inside jail” here if he did not toe the line of the agency.

Michel is among the three alleged middlemen being probed in the Rs 3,600-crore VVIP choppers scam by the ED and the CBI. The other two are Guido Haschke and Carlo Gerosa.