Big relief for Karti Chidambaram; this is what the Court has decided

Today the Delhi High Court was in a session regarding the INX Media case which involved Karti Chidambaram. And this is what the Court has decided.

The Delhi high court on Friday granted interim relief to Karti Chidambaram, former Union minister P. Chidambaram’s son, by directing the Enforcement Directorate (ED) to not take any coercive action, including arrest, against him.

The order will be effective until 20 March, the next date of hearing.

Justice S Ravindra Bhat, who heard the matter in a packed courtroom from 10.30 AM to 1.15 PM, also made it clear that if the special court grants Karti Chidambaram bail in the corruption case the CBI has registered against him, the ED will not arrest him till the next hearing before the high court.

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The court also directed Karti to surrender his passport to the ED and cooperate with the investigation.

This means that if the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) fails to secure an extension of Karti Chidambaram’s police custody on Friday from the CBI court, ED cannot proceed to arrest him.

The court further asked the CBI court, which would hear CBI’s plea for extension of Karti Chidambaram’s remand, to pass an order without being influenced by the high court’s view.

P Chidambaram was present in the courtroom throughout the hearing. 

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Karti Chidambaram was arrested by the CBI at Chennai airport in connection with alleged bribery at INX Media on 28 February and was sent to a day’s custody by a special CBI court.

His custody, initially extended by five days on 1 March, was again extended by three days to 9 March so that the CBI could question him over the matter.

He is accused of having received Rs10 lakh in kickbacks in 2007 to clear foreign investment worth Rs305 crore for INX Media, which was owned by Peter and Indrani Mukherjea, at a time when P. Chidambaram was finance minister in the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance government.

INX Media is being probed by both CBI and ED over allegations that Karti Chidambaram had received kickbacks from the media house.