NEW DELHI: Former Indian Air Force chief S P Tyagi, arrested last month in the Rs 3,767 crore VVIP chopper scam , received bribes in cash and bought at least four properties worth crores by paying in currency, top CBI sources claimed on Wednesday.The sources added that the agency has strong evidence in this regard and this has been submitted in court after identifying the properties which were not reported as required under rules when Tyagi was in service. The assertions came in the background of the trial court’s comments that CBI has been unable to state how much cash was paid to S P Tyagi and when.CBI has found Tyagi received a “cash bribe” after he became Indian Air Force chief in 2005 while middlemen like Gautam Khaitan and Tyagi’s cousin Sanjeev alias Julie Tyagi, both arrested with him last month, were already in touch with European middlemen before his appointment as IAF chief.The CBI officials refused to divulge the exact quantum of bribe received by the former IAF chief.Sources said S P Tyagi bought the properties in Gurgaon and these investments didn’t reflect in his Income Tax returns. He also didn’t inform the defence headquarters or IAF about the purchases, said the officer.Asserting that its evidence against S P Tyagi’s corruption will hold up, CBI has approached the high court challenging his bail.Apart from details of his properties, CBI has submitted in court as evidence observations of an Italian court and statements of accused persons and witnesses, which were crucial in the sentencing of ex-CEO of AgustaWestland Bruno Spagnolini and Finmeccanica’s former chief Giuseppe Orsi. The Italian court had observed that Orsi and Spagnolini had bribed “Indian officials“.The agency suspects the bribe money paid to S P Tyagi came through middleman Gautam Khaitan and S P Tyagi’s cousin Sanjeev Tyagi, which was paid to them by UAE based European middleman Christian Michel or Guido Haschke and Carlo Gerosa.TOI’s attempt to request comments from S P Tyagi failed as he didn’t answer to the phone calls or SMS.CBI has found that Rs 452 crore, or 12% of the total value of the deal, was paid as bribe by AgustaWestland. Out of this, Rs 414 crore alone came for Indians including politicians and bureaucrats apart from IAF officials.During probe by CBI and ED, it has come to the notice that S P Tyagi had made several trips to European countries after his retirement, and even met Finmeccanica officials. He also had stakes in five companies jointly owned by his cousins that were formed after his retirement and that went on to acquire properties.