SC seeks Centre's view on plea for SIT probe in chopper deal

The Supreme Court today asked the Centre to clarify its stand on a plea seeking SIT probe into alleged irregularities in the purchase of VIP Agusta helicopters by Chhattisgarh government as also about some foreign bank accounts purportedly linked to the son of Chief Minister Raman Singh.
A bench of Justices Dipak Misra and C Nagappan asked the Centre to assist in the petition which has sought a CBI or SIT probe into the purchase of VIP choppers in 2007-08 by the state government and posted the matter for hearing in the first week of November.
"The actions of Chhattisgarh Government in issuing a pre-decided tender inviting bids for the purchase of specific model of a specific brand of helicopter for VIP movement shows a complete mala fide intention on the part of the respondents to subvert the tendering process and to make sure that a pre-decided seller would be given the contract," the plea, filed by Swaraj Abhiyan, alleged, claiming that it caused a huge loss to the state exchequer.

"The petitioner is also seeking an inquiry into the alleged offshore accounts of Abhishek Singh (son of Raman Singh, Chief Minister of Chhattisgarh) a few months after the alleged scam in the purchase of Agusta helicopter for VIP use," the plea, filed through advocate Prashant Bhushan, said.
It alleged that so far no genuine attempt has been made to investigate this deal.