ED may confront Tyagi with ‘accused’ cousins

NEW DELHI: Former air chief S P Tyagi, facing charges of taking bribe for swinging the Rs 3600 crore AgustaWestland VVIP chopper deal, is likely to be “confronted” with his three cousins who allegedly received bribes on his behalf from middlemen, when ED questions him next week for the first time in its probe.

Sources said ED plans to bring S P Tyagi face-to-face with his cousins — Sanjeev, Rajeev and Sandeep Tyagi — whose names repeatedly appear in the Italian court judgment for having “influenced” the then IAF chief for reducing the service ceiling specifications of 12 VVIP choppers from 6000 metres to 4500 metres.

An official told TOI, “Tyagi brothers need to be asked about the money trail further even though we have identified a lot of it and many properties have been already attached.” ED had attached properties worth Rs 6.2 crore belonging to SP Tyagi’s cousins in 2015.

Meanwhile, CBI questioned former deputy chief of IAF J S Gujral in connection with the scandal at its headquarters on Saturday. He has been summoned for questioning again on Sunday. CBI is set to question SP Tyagi on Monday while ED has summoned him on May 5.

Fast-tracking their probe, both agencies have summoned Tyagi and his cousins next week for interrogation. While fresh evidence has emerged in the Italian court judgment against SP Tyagi and others, CBI is also exploring whether a team should be sent to Italy in the wake of the latest developments.

A CBI team had travelled to Italy to gather evidence and question middleman Guido Ralph Haschke in 2014. The Italian authorities shared substantial evidence with both CBI and ED recently while the Milan court judgment provided new “inputs” for the both agencies.

CBI, which is probing ‘corruption’ charges since 2013, is yet to file a chargesheet but claimed to have found evidence linking “bribe-takers” in India. It has questioned over 100 people in the case, including some big names.