Recently, a row was sparked between SP Tyagi and the Congress leaders on the AgustaWestland VVIP Chopper Scam.

Now, according to the Defence Ministry and IAF, records related to controversial VVIP chopper deal with AgustaWestland were not available with them. The IAF has claimed it does not have records related to controversial VVIP chopper deal with AgustaWestland which was later scrapped following allegations of bribery.

Under the RTI Act, an application was filed with the defence ministry seeking complete records related to the 2010 deal, including price negotiations, file notings, information on the Price Negotiation Committee meetings, initials estimates of the choppers, besides additions sought in the helicopters which increased the cost and deliberations which allowed lowering of flight ceiling.

The MoD transferred the application to the IAF on June 16 asking the latter to furnish the information. An application is transferred when the public authority does not have any or a part of information sought by the RTI applicant. Surprisingly, on May 6, the defence minister referred to several details of the deal during a Lok Sabha debate.

An application is transferred under Section 6(3) of the RTI Act when the public authority does not have any or a part of information sought by the RTI applicant. The Indian Air Force headquarters in a reply said, “The information sought vide your RTI application is not available at this HQ.”

Meanwhile, CBI, which is probing the case, had collected many records during investigation, but as per norms, copies of necessary documents were left with the concerned ministry or the department from where they had been collected.