“Our staff are supporting a British man who is detained in India, and have visited him to check his welfare,” the High Commission said in a statement, according to ANI.
The UK had requested for consular access to Michel,57, the allegedly middleman in the Rs 3,600-crore VVIP chopper deal signed and scrapped by the previous Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government. The deal has now turned into a political slugfest between the opposition party and the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
Michel is one of the three middlemen, being investigated by the CBI and the Enforcement Directorate in the case, besides Guido Haschke and Carlo Gerosa. Michel has denied the charges. The CBI has alleged there was an estimated loss of Euro 398.21 million (approximately Rs 2,666 crore) to the exchequer in the deal that was signed on February 8, 2010 for the supply of VVIP choppers worth Euro 556.262 million.