The Supreme Court on Thursday extended, till March 26, the interim protection from arrest granted to Karti Chidambaram by the in the INX Media money laundering case.
A bench of Chief Justice Dipak Misra, Justice AM Khanwilkar and Justice DY Chandrachud also transferred to itself the cases pending before the Delhi High Court relating to adjudication of Enforcement Directorate’s (ED) power to arrest an accused under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).
The bench’s order came after taking into note that several high courts in the country have given conflicting views on interpretation of section 19 of the PMLA and that it would deal with the issue of interpretation of the section.
Earlier in the day, Karti Chidambaram’s interim protection from being arrested by the Enforcement Directorate was extended by the Delhi High Court from 20 March to 22.
A bench of justices S Muralidhar and I S Mehta changed the date of hearing from March 20 to 22 after Karti’s counsel said that senior advocate Kapil Sibal will not be available on March 20.
Also read | INX Media case: Delhi court grants bail to Karti’s CA
Sibal is representing Karti in the matter.
The Enforcement Directorate (ED) counsel Vinod Diwakar said he has instructions from Additional Solicitor General (ASG) Tushar Mehta that the ASG has no objection if the date of hearing is changed to March 22.
To this the bench said, “Since no objection has been expressed by the ED for changing the dates, the petition is fixed for hearing on March 22.”
On 9 March, the Delhi High Court gave Congress leader P Chidambaram’s son Karti Chidambaram interim protection from being arrested by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in the INX Media money laundering case.
The interim relief to Karti Chidambaram from “any coercive action taken against him” by the ED till 20 March had came a day after the Supreme Court transferred to the Delhi High Court his plea seeking quashing of summons issued by probe agency.
However, the ED has challenged in the Supreme Court the high court’s March 9 order granting interim protection to Karti and it is listed for hearing on Thursday.
Karti Chidambaram is in CBI custody since 28 February and is presently lodged in Tihar jail in connection with CBI’s INX media corruption case relating to irregularities in the FIPB clearance given to the firm.
The CBI, which is separately probing the case, has alleged that Karti Chidambaram got kickbacks in 2007, when his father P Chidambaram was the Finance Minister, to clear foreign investment worth Rs 305 crore for INX Media – owned by Peter and Indrani Mukherjea.
The Mukherjeas are in jail in a murder case.
The CBI said it has a recorded statement of Indrani Mukherjea, accusing Karti Chidambaram of accepting bribe to get the FIPB clearance.
(With agency inputs)
The Statesman
