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Why was it sole pick, asks Supreme Court

The petition also seeks an investigation against Raman Singh for alleged corruption.

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The Supreme Court on Thursday asked Chhattisgarh government to tell it why it disregarded objections from the Civil Aviation Ministry to buy an AgustaWestland helicopter in 2007. The chopper was meant for VVIP duty.

It also asked the state government to produce documents related to the 2007 purchase of the helicopter that has come under the scanner.

"We want to be sure there was no fraud in purchasing these helicopters," the apex court asked the counsel representing the state.

The top court asked the state to produce the original file within a week and an affidavit giving reasons why the objections from the then civil aviation principal secretary advising against the purchase were not taken into account.

"Was it disregarded or overridden?" the judges asked, seeking an explanation for disregarding the bureaucrat's opinion.

The court was hearing a petition filed by Swaraj Abhiyan, which alleged that the company was favoured over the others in an opaque tender process. It further alleged that Abhishek Singh, son of Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Raman Singh got kickbacks in the process.

The petition also seeks an investigation against Raman Singh for alleged corruption.

The bench wanted to know why the United Kingdom (UK)-based company was state's sole pick despite talk of a global tender.

"When the Chief Secretary's note was about the purchase of a helicopter through global tender, why was Agusta chosen and who took the decision to confine the tender only to Augusta?" the court questioned.

To this, the state responded that it was acting on the recommendation of the "chief pilot" and the Civil Aviation Secretary. "No other company fulfilled the specifications," It said.

"It was a fraudulent tender and the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) was paid a hefty commission for the purchase of one helicopter in 2007," advocate Prashant Bhushan said, representing Swaraj Abhiyan, told the bench.

The CM's son Abhishek was also named in the Panama Papers list of those who had offshore accounts in tax havens.

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