New Delhi: The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Friday arrested former Indian Air Force chief S.P. Tyagi in connection with the Rs3,600 crore AgustaWestland helicopter deal.

Two others—Gautam Khaitan and Sanjiv Tyagi—were also arrested for their alleged involvement in the case. “We have arrested three people, including the former air chief, for their involvement in the VVIP chopper deal. The investigation is ongoing and details of the same can only be given at a later time," a CBI official said on condition of anonymity. Retired Air Marshal Tyagi was arrested on grounds of tinkering with specifications to help AgustaWestland win the contract. In 2014, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) registered a case under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, which named 21 people including Tyagi.

The CBI had summoned Tyagi and quizzed him in May over his links with middlemen in the AgustaWestland deal. Tyagi, who took over as air force chief on 31 December 2005, and retired in 2007, was also questioned by the CBI about his post-retirement trip to Italy in 2008-09 when he visited Florence, Milan and Venice. Tyagi was also questioned in 2013 regarding his links with the case.

In November, the CBI decided to request the UAE to extradite Christian Michel James, the alleged middleman in the AgustaWestland case. Both CBI and ED are probing the flow of alleged bribes in the AgustaWestland deal. In early 2013, a parliamentary investigation found several politicians and bureaucrats had allegedly accepted bribes to swing the deal for 12 AgustaWestland helicopters.

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