The court has asked that KK Khosla be present for Wednesday’s hearing, when the defence counsel for his boss, Ratul Puri, is expected to begin his arguments

NEW DELHI: The Enforcement Directorate has brought a man back to life. After declaring a key witness in the AgustaWestland VVIP chopper case as dead on Tuesday, the ED on Wednesday made a U-turn before a Delhi court and said now the witness will appear in court on Thursday.

KK Khosla, a chartered accountant has allegedly been missing for months and was in possession of certain valuable documents in the case, which mentioned bribery amounts and the names of the people who received them. The agency said he is a crucial witness to the bribery and corruption link.

“Whenever we went to his house, he was not available. Maybe he is dead,” the agency officials had told the special court hearing the case on Tuesday. But, on Wednesday, the agency corrected its stance, saying the defence has claimed that he is alive and will appear in court whenever required.

The court has asked that KK Khosla be present for Wednesday’s hearing, when the defence counsel for his boss, Ratul Puri, is expected to begin his arguments. The nephew of Madhya Pradesh CM Kamal Nath is a suspect in the case. Earlier this month, the agency had told the court that he had received money from the Rs 3,600 crore VVIP chopper deal that involved hefty bribes.

Puri , is threatening witnesses, the Enforcement Directorate told the Delhi court on Wednesday.

Ratul Puri, who is the chairman of Hindustan Power Projects Private Limited, has said the allegations are part of a political vendetta. 

The I-T Department has unearthed fresh evidence in the VVIP choppers scam case after raiding a Hyderabad-based group, which purportedly had dealings with Rajiv Saxena, arrested in the case. CBDT said in a statement that tax sleuths searched the premises of a business group on July 24 and found four undisclosed foreign bank accounts. While the statement did not identify the company or its promoter, official sources named the Hyderabad-based firm as AlphaGeo and its promoter and CMD as Dinesh Alla.