CBI will soon send teams to examine West Bengal Governor M K Narayanan and his Goa counterpart B V Wanchoo as "witnesses" in connection with its probe in the VVIP helicopter purchase deal.
Highly-placed CBI sources said the agency has informed the Law Ministry that there was no bar on examining serving Governors as witnesses. The examination of the two constitutional functionaries is important as Wanchoo and Narayanan had participated in the meeting in 2005 that allowed key changes in the technical specifications which led to 12-Helicopter contract being clinched by AgustaWestland, they said.
The Law Ministry had, after initially denying the permission, wanted to know CBI's purpose to question the two Governors enjoying constitutional immunity from prosecution. The sources said the Law Ministry had initially rejected CBI's plea for examining the Governors saying that after being appointed as Governors, they have immunity from prosecution under Article 361 of the Constitution.
They said CBI merely said it wanted to examine Wanchoo and Narayanan as witnesses, which has nothing to do with prosecution in the case. The Law Ministry had again written a letter asking CBI to state its position of examining the two, official sources said in New Delhi.
In its reply, CBI had said it wanted to record the statements of Narayanan, who was the then National Security Adviser, and Wanchoo, who was the then head of elite Special Protection Group (SPG) guarding the Prime Minister. The deal in which allegations of Rs 360-crore bribe were levelled has been scrapped by the government last year. CBI claims the parameters regarding the height at which the helicopters can fly as also the flight evaluation were changed in a manner that enabled AgustaWestland to clinch the deal vis- -vis its competitor Sikorsky.
CBI has registered a case against former IAF Chief S P Tyagi along with 13 others including his cousins and European middlemen in the case of alleged bribery. The allegation against the former Air Chief was that he had reduced the height of the VVIP helicopters so that AgustaWestland is included in the bids. However, the decision was taken in consultation with the Special Protection Group and other top officials of the Prime Minister's Office but the agency did not get permission to question either Narayanan or Wanchoo.
It alleged reduction of service ceiling--maximum height at which a helicopter can perform normally--allowed UK-based AgustaWestland to get into the fray as, otherwise its helicopters were not even qualified for submission of bids.
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