Aircel-Maxis case: Protection from arrest to Chidambaram, Karti extended till Feb 18

NEW DELHI: A Delhi court on Monday extended till February 18 the interim protection from arrest granted to former Union minister P Chidambaram and his son Karti from arrest in the Aircel-Maxis scam.

P Chidambaram. PTI file

Tribune News Service
New Delhi, January 28

A Delhi court on Monday extended till February 18 the interim protection from arrest granted to former Union minister P Chidambaram and his son Karti from arrest in the Aircel-Maxis scam.

Special CBI Judge OP Saini extended the relief to Chidambaram noting that he would not be available on February 1 for which the matter was earlier listed.

The case relates to alleged irregularities in grant of Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) approval in the Aircel-Maxis deal.

Meanwhile, Karti Chidambaram, who’s also a suspect in INX media money laundering case, failed to get immediate permission to travel abroad as the Supreme Court on Monday asked the Enforcement Directorate to specify by Wednesday the dates on which it wanted to interrogate him.

Karti has moved the top court for permission to travel to France, Spain, Germany and the United Kingdom for the next few months for international tennis tournaments organised by 'Totus Tennis Ltd'— a company having its registered office in the UK. Karti said he was associated with tennis as a "former player, current administrator and entrepreneur".

The case relates to the FIPB clearance to INX Media for receiving foreign funds of Rs 305 crore when his father was finance minister.

ED has opposed his plea, arguing that Karti had "blatantly” misused the liberty granted by court to travel abroad and had been using it to protract the probe.

A Bench headed by Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi asked Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, representing ED, to seek instructions and give the date on which the agency would like to question Karti.

The top court had on September 18 last allowed Karti, who is being probed by ED and CBI, to travel to the UK between September 20 and 30.

"We will ensure both. We will ensure that he appears before you (ED) and he goes for his tennis assignment…But no tennis for him if he evades," said the Bench, which also included Justice Sanjiv Khanna.

The court had earlier refused urgent hearing on the plea of Karti saying, "Who is Karti? Karti Chidambaram, you are saying? Let him stay where he is. We have more important matters to decide". With PTI