Gautam Khaitan, the managing partner of OP Khaitan & Co, has been arrested by the Central Bureau of Investigations (CBI) again for alleged graft in the Choppergate scam, this time together with former Air Force Marshal SP Tyagi and Tyagi’s cousin, reported the The Indian Express and others.

The CBI said it had arrested the trio “on the allegations of who accepted illegal gratification for exercising influence through corrupt or illegal means”, according to several reports, invoking Section 120B, Section 420 IPC and Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988.

The CBI has alleged that 12% of the Rs 3,767 crore AgustaWestland deal value had been taken in bribes.

Khaitan had spent more than three months in jail from when he was arrested in September 2014, having repeatedly failed to secure bail despite the assistance of top lawyers until finally winning bail for Rs 10 lakh in January 2015.

The CBI argued that Khaitan would have influenced the investigation if they had let him go.

In May 2016, Khaitan was again interviewed by the CBI, together with Tyagi.

Photo by Oleg V Belyakov