AgustaWestland Case: Delhi High Court Dismisses Christian Michel's Plea For Release From Jail

The Delhi High Court on Wednesday (April 08) dismissed a plea filed by AgustaWestland VVIP chopper scam accused Christian Michel, challenging Article 17 of the India-UAE extradition treaty, executed back in the year 1999.

A division bench comprising Justice Navin Chawla and Justice Ravinder Dudeja also upheld a trial court order rejecting his application seeking release from prison on the ground that he had undergone the maximum punishment of seven years.

“We find no merit in the petition. The same is accordingly dismissed,” the Court said.

The bench found no conflict between Section 21 of the Extradition Act and Article 17 of the Treaty in question. It added that the scope of prosecution of Michel must be understood in light of the extradition decree and the underlying factual basis considered by the extraditing court.

"It is evident from the extradition decree passed by the Dubai Court that the petitioner was extradited for facing trial for offences which are directly arising from the factual background in the present case, thereby indicating that the prosecution of the petitioner falls within the scope of Article 17 of the Treaty," the Court said.

"UAE and India, as sovereign countries, have decided the principles that would govern the extradition requests and have in built consent for such person to be tried even for offences connected with the ones for which such person has been extradited. The same is in conformity and not in derogation of Section 21 of the Extradition Act," it added.

Michel was extradited from Dubai under this treaty in December 2018. He argued that ordinarily, a requesting State (in this case India) can only prosecute an extradited person for offences for which extradition is sought. However, Article 17 enables the Indian government to prosecute him even for offences "connected therewith".

Michel had challenged Article 17 of the treaty as being ultra-virus Article 21, 245 and 253 of the Constitution of India to the extent the expression "anything connected there with" gives liberty to the prosecution to read other offences and sections into the chargesheet filed against a fugitive extradited from UAE.

It was his case that an extradited person can be prosecuted only for the offences for which the extradition took place and not for connected offences.

He had also challenged the trial court order passed on August 07 last year which had rejected his application under Section 436A of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC) seeking to release him from jail.

Michel was granted bail by the Supreme Court in the CBI case related to the scam on February 18, 2025, and later granted bail by the Delhi High Court in the ED case on March 4, 2025. However, he has remained in jail due to non-fulfilment of bail conditions.

Michel is termed as a 'Middleman' for the alleged illegal transactions that took place in the VVIP chopper scam.

The CBI had alleged that there was an estimated loss of Euro 398.21 million (about 2666 Crore) to the exchequer in the deal that was signed on February 8, 2010 for the supply of VVIP choppers worth Euro 556.262 million.

ED had then filed a chargesheet against Michel in June, 2016, alleging that he had received EUR 30 million (about Rs 225 crore) from AgustaWestland.

Title: Christian Michel James v. Union of India

Citation: 2026 LiveLaw (Del) 354

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