SC to hear PIL for case against Sonia Ganhi, Manmohan Singh in AgustaWestland VVIP chopper deal

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Thusday said it will hear next week a plea for filing a case against Congress president Sonia Gandhi & former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in connection with the scam in the AgustaWestland helicopter deal. A bench of Chief Justice T.S. Thakur and justices R. Banumathi and U.U. Lalit ordered listing of the Public Interest Litigation when advocate M.L. Sharma said that it is an urgent matter which should be heard at the earliest. The Central Bureau of Investigation had in 2013 registered a case in connection with alleged bribes paid by the firm to Indians to clinch the deal for 12 helicopters to ferry VVIPs including the President and prime minister.

An Italian court has reportedly cited handwritten references to Sonia, her political secretary Ahmed Patel and former Air Chief S.P. Tyagi by a middleman in a judgment that convicted the helicopter company's chief executive.