AgustaWestland chopper scam: Delhi HC dismisses ED plea against bail to Ratul Puri

Ratul Puri

The Delhi High Court on Tuesday dismissed the Enforcement Directorate’s plea to cancel the trial court’s order granting bail to Ratul Puri in a money laundering case related to the AgustaWestland chopper scam.

Declining to interfere with the trial court’s December 2019 order, Justice Suresh Kumar Kait said, “It is settled that once bail granted should not be cancelled in a mechanical manner without considering any supervening circumstances which is not conducive to fair trial. It cannot be cancelled on a request from the side of the complainant/ investigating agency unless and until it is established that the same is being misused and it is no longer conducive in the interest of justice to allow the accused any further to remain on bail.

“No doubt, the bail can be cancelled only in those discerning few cases where it is established that a person to whom the concession of bail has been granted is misusing the same. However, all those facts are missing in the present case,” the court said.