AgustaWestland case: Rajiv Saxena granted bail

New Delhi, Feb 25: A Delhi Court on Monday granted bail to AgustaWestland scam co-accused Rajiv Saxena, who was extradited from Dubai on January 30. The Patiala House Court on Friday (February 22) had extended the interim bail of Saxena till today (February).

The Patiala House Court had on February 14 granted interim bail for seven days to Saxena and had asked AIIMS to file a detailed medical report on Saxena's health.

AIIMS has reportedly filed a detailed health report of Rajiv Saxena. Saxena had sought bail on medical grounds and told the court that he was suffering from a "heart disease" and "advanced-stage leukaemia" (blood cancer).

On February 14, Saxena was asked to furnish two bail sureties of Rs 5 lakh each. On February 13, the Enforcement Directorate had said that it was not opposing Saxena's bail plea due to his medical condition and the fact that he was cooperating in the probe. The court had then asked the lawyer appearing for the ED whether the bail was not being opposed on merits, to which he replied that he was relying only on Saxena's medical condition as he is suffering from leukamia.

To this, the court had said, "remember it will apply in other cases then. We are recording everything, whatever you are saying". Saxena had sought bail on medical grounds and told the court that he was suffering from a "heart disease" and "advanced-stage leukaemia" (blood cancer).

Saxena is one of the accused named in the chargesheet filed by Enforcement Directorate (ED) in the case. The agency had alleged that in connivance with another accused, Guatam Khaitan, a Delhi based lawyer, Saxena provided a global corporate structure for laundering illegal proceeds of the crime for payment to various political persons, bureaucrats and Air Force officials to influence the contract to supply 12 VVIP helicopters in favour of AgustaWestland.