Christian Michel's extradition: MyNation takes a look at the men and women who worked hard to get one of the most high-profile fugitives in the country
New Delhi: Ever since Christian Michel was apprehended by the UAE authorities in February 2017 on the basis on an Interpol notice, Indian authorities had been trying to get him extradited to India for holding a criminal trial against him in the VVIP chopper scam. A number of agencies including the CBI and the Enforcement Directorate were in touch with authorities in Dubai where Michel had been living for a long time.
Getting him back was not an easy task, as the alleged middleman in the AW-101 chopper deal had strong contacts in the Emirates administration and the different royal families there. Over it, the Indian authorities also had to battle the lobbies that were at play on behalf of the forces who did not want Michel to be sent to India.
But at last, despite the pulls and pressures from various quarters, Indian agencies managed to get him back to India in a special plane at 10:35 pm at the Palam Technical Area.
MyNation takes a look at the men and women who worked hard to get one of the most high-profile fugitives in the country.
The National Security Advisor has been working overtime to get Michel to India for the last over 18 months as he was constantly in touch with the UAE authorities. The NSA over a period of time enhanced security relationship with the UAE and a number of other wanted criminals were also sent to India by the officials from there. The agencies under him were also tracking the legal proceedings there and the activities of Michel. It would not be wrong to say that he played the biggest role in convincing the UAE to pack off Michel to India.
The talk in the power corridors is that if the entire intelligence and investigative agency community worked to bring Christen Michel to the Dubai airport, he was given the last push into India by the External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj, who was in Dubai recently to attend the 12th meeting of the India-UAE joint commission. A team of the external affairs ministry and the Indian ambassador to UAE Navddep Suri were also working hard the successful extradition.
It was a Gulfstream aircraft of the country's premier external intelligence agency which brought Michel to India from Dubai. The RAW chief also had a team stationed in Dubai to ensure the smooth handing over and taking over of the alleged middleman in the chopper scam to India. In his tenure of 23 months, the RAW chief has developed strong relations with the security agencies there to ensure a high level of security cooperation between the two countries.
Brought into the chair as interim director of the controversy-ridden investigative agency, M Nageshwar Rao had visited UAE on several occasions earlier for talks with his UAE counterparts on the chopper scam case as a Joint Director. The officer was also constantly talking to Swaraj in Dubai on the issue to avoid any last minute issues. The officer is now preparing a strong case against the alleged middleman in the scam.
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