Businessman Ratul Puri on Thursday filed an application in a Delhi court seeking to surrender in a money laundering case related to the AgustaWestland helicopter scam, reported PTI. Puri, who is the nephew of Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Kamal Nath, is in the Enforcement Directorate’s custody at present in connection with an alleged bank fraud case.
Special Judge Arvind Kumar will hear Puri’s plea on Friday. On Wednesday, the court had refused to cancel a non-bailable warrant against him in the money laundering case. Puri is accused of receiving kickbacks in the AgustaWestland deal.
On Monday, the Enforcement Directorate had told Kumar that the businessman was evading investigators and not turning up for questioning. Puri’s counsel Vijay Aggarwal accused the directorate of being unfair to him, and urged the court to cancel the non-bailable against his client.
“He is willing to join the probe with the ED, but the ED has emailed him today [Monday] at 11.55 am and called him at 1 pm,” Aggarwal alleged. “This is unfair. How can a person join investigation at such a short notice?”
On Tuesday, the Enforcement Directorate arrested Puri, two days after the Central Bureau of Investigation booked him and four executives of electronics company Moser Baer in connection with an alleged case of bank fraud worth Rs 354 crore. On Monday, the CBI had conducted searches at six locations.
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