CBI forms special team headed by Rakesh Asthana to investigate AgustaWestand, Mallya

The Central Bureau of Investigation has formed a special investigation team (SIT) to probe high profile cases including that of liquor baron Vijay Mallya's alleged bank fraud and the Rs 3,726 crore AgustaWestland VVIP chopper scam. According to official sources the move was made to expedite proceedings in certain high profile cases and SIT is to be headed by Gujarat IPS officer Rakesh Asthana, who is currently serving as the additional director of the probe agency and is known to have probed Godhra train burning incident and fodder scam

"The team will have the mandate to probe specific cases and as of now, two cases will be handled by the SIT. The team is supposed to take over other cases as well," said a CBI official confirming that the team will be headed by Joint Director Asthana.

Asthana had previously headed the state SIT that probed burning of Sabarmati Express train at Godhra in February 2002. The SIT had then found that the burning of a coach of Sabarmati Express, which claimed lives of 59 people, was a "carefully planned and meticulously executed criminal conspiracy". The 1984 batch officer has also supervised the fodder scam probe allegedly involving then chief minister of Bihar Lalu Prasad Yadav.

A senior CBI official said the recent judgment of an Italian court has changed "the understanding" of the investigating agency regarding the Rs 3,700 crore rupee scam. "The Italian investigating agencies have established that bribe was given to the tune of over R 350 crore. On our part we need to establish the role of persons involved in taking it as well as the money trail," the official said.

On April 7, the Italian court has said there was "reasonable belief that corruption took place" in the 2010 VVIP helicopter deal and that former Indian Air Force chief SP Tyagi was involved. The court also said it was "validly proven" that a part of $10-15 million in illicit funds made their way to Indian officials.

Letter Rogatory's (LR's) in this regard have also been sent to eight different countries where in CBI suspects the money trail of the infamous chopper deal leads into. The countries where LR's have been sent are Italy, Switzerland, United Kingdom, UAE, Mauritius, Singapore, British Virgin Islands and Tunisia

. CBI has alleged that during his tenure as IAF Chief, Tyagi and "with his approval", the Air Force had "conceded to reduce the service ceiling for VVIP helicopters from 6,000 metres to 4,500 metres as mandatory" to which it was opposing vehemently on the grounds of security constraints and other related reasons.

Other than the former Air Force Chief, CBI had named various persons in its FIR, including European alleged middlemen Gerosa, Christian Michel James and Haschke who are among the 13 individuals named as accused in CBI's FIR. Six companies including Italy-based Finmeccanica, Agusta Westland, Mohali-based IDS Infotech, Aeromatrix, IDS Tunisia and IDS Mauritius have also been named by CBI in its FIR.

Recently CBI had also scaled up their probe against Mallya and decided to scrutinise more than 5 lakh transactions that have taken place since the year 2004. Initially CBI was investigating just a single loan default case, which involved Mallya's Kingfisher airlines's non-return of IDBI Bank's Rs900 crore in 2009. Mallya's who left the country in March this year, has been summoned by the Enforcement Directorate twice following his departure and his failed to respond on both occasions.