The Supreme Court on Wednesday did not intervene in a plea for bail filed by Augusta Westland VVIP chopper scam accused Christian Michel James.
The accused had said he was vulnerable to COVID-19 infection while in custody as an undertrial.
A Bench led by Justice D.Y. Chandrachud asked Michel to first present his bail plea before the Delhi High Court. The accused had cited the recent order passed by the Supreme Court to de-congest crowded prisons in a bid to stop infection from spreading within and from prisons.
“The agedness and a pre-existing ill state of health will make the applicant’s (Michel) body more susceptible to the infection than any other ordinary prisoner with a normal health condition,” Michel argued in his plea.
Michel, an alleged middleman arrested in 2018, had earlier moved the Delhi High Court seeking interim bail citing the risk of infection from inside Tihar Jail. He had then moved the apex court seeking the same relief saying that the High Court had been unable to accord hearing on his interim bail plea.
The regular bail plea of Michel, who is in judicial custody since January 5, 2019, is also pending before the High Court. The CBI and the ED have contended that he should not be allowed bail as he has a nexus with influential people and could influence witnesses.
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