Agusta westland case: Court extends Rajiv Saxena’s ED custody by four days

The judge extended Saxena’s ED custody by four days and asked the agency to provide the accused proper medication, considering his health condition.

Saxena was deported from the UAE on January 31 and produced before the special judge, who allowed the ED to interrogate him for four days.

While seeking 10 more days for custodial interrogation, the agency claimed before the court that “Rajiv Saxena was the key money launderer who, along with accused middleman Gautam Khaitan, also a lawyer, was instrumental in circulation of payment of kickbacks”.

The agency said it needs to look into “how the kickbacks were routed and laundered, the carriers involved in facilitating the money laundering, the places where the said proceeds of crime are parked and how/by whom the said tainted money was placed, layered and integrated into the system”.

ED sources said that Saxena would be confronted with Khaitan as the latter had prompted Saxena to float companies to launder kickbacks. Khaitan is in ED’s custody in connection with a separate laundering case.

The agency further argued in court that they need to unearth and ascertain the use of the funds received by Saxena through his companies namely Interstellar Technologies, UHY Saxena and Matrix and the role of his key aides in the projection of the said tainted money as untainted.

Appearing for Saxena, senior counsel Geeta Luthra and advocate Shivani Luthra Lohiya opposed the remand, saying there is no reason why Saxena should be in remand even for a minute. Luthra urged the court that her client be released on interim bail for five or 10 days, be kept at a place suggested by the agency, and that he will join the probe as and when sought. She also argued that Saxena’s custody is “illegal” and his “deportation” nothing but an eyewash to deny him his rights.