A Delhi court on Wednesday granted bail to Sanjeev Tyagi, cousin of ex-IAF chief S P Tyagi, and lawyer Gautam Khaitan in August Westland chopper scam case, saying no purpose would be served by keeping them in custody.
Special CBI Judge Arvind Kumar gave the relief to both the accused on a personal bond of `2 lakh each and one surety of like amount while imposing certain conditions on them.
The court ordered them not to tamper with the evidence or try to influence the witnesses. The court had earlier granted bail to 72-year-old former IAF chief Tyagi, saying the CBI has failed to state the alleged bribe amount and when it was paid.
It had noted that Tyagi had joined the investigation as and when the CBI called him and it was not the case that he either tampered with evidence after registration of the FIR or influenced witnesses in the case. Tyagi, who retired in 2007, his cousin Sanjeev and Khaitan were arrested on December 9, 2016 by CBI in connection with the case which relates to procurement of 12 VVIP choppers from UK-based firm during the UPA-2 regime.
Additional Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for CBI, had earlier opposed the bail pleas of the accused, saying if set free, they might influence witnesses and hamper the "multi-layered probe by various agencies in more than one jurisdiction involving several countries".