Chit passing, anxiety attack and sleepless nights: Inside story of Christian Michel's interrogation

The AgustaWestland VVIP chopper case on Friday took a major turn as the probe agency – Enforcement Directorate (ED) – claimed that the alleged middleman in the deal, Christian Michel, has named one "Mrs Gandhi" and "son of an Italian lady". During the hearing in Delhi's Patiala House Court, the Enforcement Directorate claimed that Michel also told his investigators how the state-run Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) was removed from the deal and Tata was roped in. From the extradition of Michel to his shocking revelations, the alleged AgustaWestland VVIP chopper deal middleman was made to face the desi way of questioning. During his interrogation, Michel had an anxiety attack, spent nights without enough sleep and was once caught passing chits to his lawyer, allegedly to ask him how to tackle questions related to UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi.

Also Read | 'Big man - R', 'son of Italian lady': Know what middleman Christian Michel told ED in 5 points

The chit passing

During Saturday's hearing, the Enforcement Directorate told Delhi’s Patiala House court that 'middleman' Michel, who was extradited to India from Dubai on December 5 for questioning in the AgustaWestland VVIP chopper case, was misusing the liberty of legal assistance. During the interrogation, the ED claimed, Michel was passing chits to his lawyers asking how to tackle questions on Congress leader Sonia Gandhi. The ED asked the court to ban him access to his lawyer and send on seven-day custody as the agency needed to confront him with other people to expose the bigger conspiracies.

The anxiety attack and sleepless nights

Also Read | AgustaWestland middleman Christian Michel takes names of Mrs Gandhi, 'son of Italian lady': ED to court

When Michel was brought back to India upon his extradition from Dubai, he was first taken into the CBI headquarters in the national capital. However, upon reaching the CBI headquarters, the 57-year-old UK national had an anxiety attack and doctors were called in to attend him. However, the investigators didn't stop doing their work and started questioning him as soon as the treatment got over. If this wasn't bad enough, the investigators didn't let him sleep till 4 in the morning on December 6 and questioned about the money trail and identification of documents in the multi-crore rupee deal. On that day, Michel was allowed to sleep only for two hours from 4 am to 6 am.