CBI books ex-Air Chief S P Tyagi, carries out raids in Delhi, Chandigarh, Gurgaon

CBI has registered an FIR against former IAF Chief S P Tyagi and 12 others in connection with the alleged kickbacks in the VVIP chopper deal scam. Among the 12 is Satish Bagrodia, a brother of former union minister Santosh Bagrodia. Five of the 12 are foreigners.

CBI has named six companies — AgustaWestland and its parent Finmeccanica, Aeromatrix, IDS Tunisia, IDS Mauritius and IDS Infotech — in the FIR.

CBI on Wednesday raided 14 places in Delhi, Chandigarh, Gurgaon and Mohali, including the homes of Tyagi, Aeromatrix CEO Praveen Bakshi, and top IDS Infotech officials Bagrodia and Pratap K Aggarwal.

The FIR was registered on Tuesday after investigators found two "unusual" payments of 1,26,000 euros and 2,00,000 euros to the accounts of the former Air Chief's cousins towards charges for consultancy provided to a subsidiary of AgustaWestland.

The cousins — Sanjeev alias Julie and his brothers Docsa and Sandeep — were unable to explain the remittances, made by middleman Guido Haschke, officials said.

CBI is learnt to have alleged that changes were made to the choppers' operational requirements, including bringing down the service ceiling from 6,000 m to 4,500 m, when Tyagi was chief. The IAF is learnt to have opposed, on grounds of security, a PMO suggestion that the ceiling be brought down; however, Tyagi had softened the stand on becoming Air Chief designate in November 2004, allowing Agusta to enter the field, says the CBI's FIR.

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