india

Updated: Sep 18, 2019 22:21 IST

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Wednesday removed its investigating officer in the AgustaWestland scam, a month after businessman Ratul Puri slipped away from agency’s headquarters during questioning on the pretext of going to toilet, a senior official familiar with the development said.

Another officer, requesting anonymity, said that the AgustaWestland case officer had been issued show cause notice after Ratul Puri managed to dodge the officer and left the HQ on July 26. The incident was followed by Puri applying for an anticipatory bail, the very next day. In the show cause notice, the case officer was asked to explain how the lapse happened. Puri was later arrested in August.

The first officer cited above, said the case officer has been removed as the incident led to serious delay in the probe in the sensitive case that has political links and cross-border ramifications.

A new investing officer has been appointed in the case, he added.

Puri was recently arrested in a money laundering probe case linked to an alleged bank fraud case and placed under arrest in the VVIP choppers deal case too by the ED.

The ED is probing both the cases under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).

The multi-crore deal to purchase AgustaWestland choppers for the VVIPs was scrapped by India over allegations of corruption and kickbacks being paid in the deal.

The ED and the CBI are probing the case and have already filed multiple charge sheets in the case.