The Delhi High Court has requested responses from the Central Government, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), and the Enforcement Directorate (ED) regarding a petition filed by Christian Michel James, an alleged middleman and accused in the ₹3,600-crore AgustaWestland VVIP chopper scam case.

A bench comprising Justices Vivek Chaudhary and Manoj Jain directed the Home Ministry, the Ministry of External Affairs, the CBI, and the ED to submit their objections concerning the maintainability of Michel's petition. The next hearing on the matter is scheduled for April 9, 2026.

Michel's petition challenges Article 17 of the India-UAE extradition treaty, which was signed in 1999. This article permits the requesting state (India, in this instance) to prosecute extradited individuals not only for the specific offense for which their extradition was granted but also for any connected offenses.

Michel's lawyer, who was extradited from Dubai in December 2018 under this treaty, contended that an extradited person should only be prosecuted for the offenses for which the extradition occurred, and not for any related offenses. Following his extradition, the CBI and ED arrested Michel.

Michel has also challenged a trial court order from August 7, which rejected his application under Section 436A of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC) seeking his release from jail. His lawyer stated that Michel would have served seven years in jail by December 4, 2025, and has not been released even once. They further argued that the investigation has been ongoing for 13 years without completion. According to Michel's lawyer, he has already served the maximum sentence of seven years for the offenses for which he was extradited, making his continued detention illegal.

Michel is one of three alleged middlemen being investigated in the AgustaWestland case; the other two are Guido Haschke and Carlo Gerosa. The CBI's chargesheet alleges an estimated loss of Euro 398.21 million (approximately ₹2,666 crore) to the government due to irregularities in awarding the contract to AgustaWestland. The contract, awarded in February 2010 to the Anglo-Italian firm AgustaWestland for supplying 12 VVIP helicopters, was eventually cancelled in 2014 amidst allegations of violations and kickbacks.

In related news, the Supreme Court granted bail to Christian James Michel in February 2025 in the CBI probe, citing the agency's failure to begin the trial. Michel remains in custody due to a separate criminal case under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) being investigated by the Enforcement Directorate, and requires bail in that case to be released.

The CBI's initial chargesheet, filed on September 1, 2017, claimed that in 2004, officials from the Prime Minister's Office (PMO), Special Protection Group (SPG), air force, and Ministry of Defence agreed to lower the mandatory service ceiling of the helicopters from 6,000 meters to 4,500 meters. Later, the CBI added Section 467 of the IPC against Michel through supplementary chargesheets in September 2020 and March 2022; this offense carries a maximum sentence of life imprisonment. The CBI has named former defence secretary Shashi Kant Sharma and four Indian Air Force (IAF) officers for allegedly favoring the firm in the controversial deal signed in 2010.