New Delhi, March 6
Former IAF Chief Air Chief Marshal SP Tyagi (retd) and his cousins were questioned by the CBI today to probe their role in the alleged payoff in the Rs 3,500-cr VVIP helicopter deal.

The Tyagis were quizzed at the CBI headquarters for several hours. The former Air Chief reached the headquarters around 3 pm, while his cousins reached a few hours earlier. They were grilled on the basis of facts collected by the CBI team from Italy, sources said. Besides Tyagi, the CBI in its preliminary inquiry on February 25 had named his three cousins — Sandeep Tyagi, Julie Tyagi and Dosca Tyagi — and seven others.

The CBI had examined two executives of Mohali-based Aeromatrix and IDS Infotech on Monday, and Aeromatrix CEO Praveen Bakshi on Tuesday. The CBI may examine more people in the case before it registers a case, sources said.

European middleman Carlo Gerosa and Guido Haschkhe have been accused by the Italian investigators for paying illegal gratification to swing the deal for 12 VVIP helicopters in favour of AgustaWestland.

On the basis of a letter submitted by the Defence Minister to investigate the kickback case in the helicopter deal, the CBI had gone to Italy last month to collect documents and hold discussions with legal experts there.

In a probe report, Italian prosecutors had said Gerosa and Haschkhe had close contacts with the former Air Chief and his three cousins, the sources added.

It had claimed that Haschkhe and Gerosa, through the Tyagi brothers, managed to change the tender details by modifying the “operational ceiling” from 18,000 feet to 15,000 feet altitude, thus making AgustaWestland eligible to take part in the tender process, the documents in an Italian court say.

The investigation agency had filed a preliminary inquiry against 11 people and four firms. The firms named in inquiry are Finmeccanica, AgustaWestland, IDS Infotech Ltd (India) and Aeromatrix (India).