VVIP Chopper Deal: CBI charge sheets ex-defence secy

The Central Bureau of Investigation on Wednesday filed a supplementary charge sheet against former defence secretary Shashi Kant Sharma over his alleged involvement in the Rs 3,600-crore VVIP helicopter deal scandal.

Besides the 1976-batch IAS officer, who served as the Comptroller and Auditor General of India till September 2017, the CBI has also named four former officials of the Indian Air Force in the charge sheet, over alleged irregularities in the deal to acquire helicopters from UK’s AgustaWestland.

Sharma was director-general of acquisition in 2007. His role in approving the “draft” request for proposal (RFP) for the deal had come under the scanner of the agency during the perusal of the official files, said the people.

Sharma had approved the draft RFP, they said. The agency had also factored in the initials of “DG Acq” figuring in handwritten diaries of alleged middlemen in the case. According to the agency, its probe established that “DG Acq” meant for director-general, acquisition.

Sharma had previously denied his role in the deal. In a text message to ET in September 2020, he had described it a “frivolous allegation”. “I had a long, unblemished service record for over 40 years, and nobody can blame me for any mala fide action or decision,” Sharma had said.

The supplementary charge sheet was filed after the agency received sanction to prosecute Sharma and four former IAF officials for their alleged role in the deal, said people in the know. The CBI in March 2020 had sought government sanction to prosecute Sharma and the others.

The former IAF officials are Air Vice Marshal Jasbir Singh Panesar, deputy chief test pilot SA Kunte, Wing Commander Thomas Mathew and Group Captain N Santosh. The prosecution sanction and the charge sheet against the government servants would give impetus to the CBI to finally kickstart the trial which hasn’t commenced till date even after a nearly nine-year-long probe.

The agency is likely to approach the special CBI court next month requesting it to “segregate” the trial against those accused who for some reason haven’t joined the investigation until now, said the people.

In November, the CBI had told the court that its investigation was at its “last stage on certain key aspects”. Explaining the reasons for delay, the agency said the probe was “pending for the want of complete execution of letters rogatory sent to nine countries and such other reasons”.

The CBI had filed a supplementary charge sheet in September 2020 to include 15 individuals and entities whose involvement came to fore for the first time. These included Rajiv Saxena, a Dubai based hawala operator who was deported from Dubai in 2019.

In that charge sheet, the agency had said the probe was ongoing to find out the “beneficiaries” of the alleged kickbacks paid to swing the deal in favour of AgustaWestland.

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