New Delhi, June 22 (TIWN) The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Saturday said it had a registered a case against arms dealer Sanjay Bhandari, officials of Swiss company Pilatus Aircrafts Ltd and some unknown officials of the Indian Air Force and the Defence Ministry in the 2009 trainer aircraft deal case.

After registering the FIR, the investigating agency conducted searches on the premises of Bhandari in connection with the 2,895.63-crore deal.  Bhandari is already being investigated for allegedly buying a benami house for Congress President Rahul Gandhi’s brother-in-law Robert Vadra in London.  A senior CBI official told IANS: “A case was registered on Wednesday against Bhandari and Bimal Sarren, both directors of Offset India Solutions Pvt Ltd, as well as officials of Swiss-based plane-maker Pilatus Aircrafts Ltd over alleged irregularities in procurement of 75 basic trainer aircraft in 2009.” 

The CBI said the Indian Air Force on December 16, 2009 issued a request proposal for procurement of 75 basic trainer aircraft and Pilatus Aircrafts Switzerland was one of the bidders.  “To obtain the contract for supply of 75 basic trainer aircrafts to IAF, Pilatus Aircrafts entered into a criminal conspiracy with Bimal Sareen and Sanjay Bhandari by fraudulently signing a Service Provider Agreement with the latter in June 2010 in violation of the Defence Procurement Procedure 2008,” the CBI alleged.