A Delhi court on Thursday sought response from the superintendent of Tihar jail on a plea by Christian Michel, an alleged middleman arrested in the AgustaWestland VVIP chopper case, seeking permission to make phone calls abroad to his family and lawyers.
Special Judge Arvind Kumar asked jail authorities to file their reply on the plea filed through advocates Aljo K Joseph and Sriram Parakkat, which urged that Michel should be allowed to made international calls, because it is important for him to collect necessary material to prove his innocence.
“The accused is a British citizen and does not have any near relatives or friends in India. It is humbly submitted that he may kindly be allowed to make international subscriber dialling (ISD) calls from the jail so as to enable him to talk to his relatives and friends, which is very much important for him to collect all the materials necessary to prove his innocence before this court,” the application said.
The plea also said that the accused is ready to bear the expenses for making these calls from the jail premises during the period of judicial custody. It also said that he may be allowed to meet his lawyers during his judicial custody so that he can explain his situation to his counsels.
The court had earlier refrained Michel from meeting his lawyers while he was in Enforcement Directorate (ED) custody, after the agency said he was misusing legal access by passing chits to the advocates.
The application filed on Thursday also contended that Michel had made a representation to Ajay Kashyap, Director General (DG) Prisons but the same was rejected.
The matter would be now heard on January 14.
First Published: Jan 10, 2019 23:06 IST
Source: HindustanTimes