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Aircel-Maxis case: Delhi court grants anticipatory bail to P Chidambaram, SC allows Karti Chidambaram to travel abroad
A court here today granted protection from arrest till August 7 to former Union minister P Chidambaram in the Aircel-Maxis case filed by the CBI.
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New Delhi
Special CBI Judge O P Saini granted the relief to the Congress leader after a plea was moved by him in the morning, seeking anticipatory bail in the case.
Chidambaram and his son Karti Chidambaram were named in the chargesheet filed by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in the case on July 19.
The agency had filed a supplementary chargesheet before the special judge, who had fixed it for consideration on July 31.
The CBI is probing as to how Chidambaram, who was the Union finance minister in 2006, granted a Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) approval to a foreign firm, when only the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) was empowered to do it.
The senior Congress leader's role has come under the scanner of investigating agencies in the Rs 3,500-crore Aircel-Maxis deal and the INX Media case involving Rs 305 crore.
In its chargesheet filed earlier in the case against former telecom minister Dayanidhi Maran, his brother Kalanithi Maran and others, the agency had alleged that Chidambaram had granted an FIPB approval in March, 2006 to Mauritius-based Global Communication Services Holdings Ltd, a subsidiary of Maxis.
The Maran brothers and the other accused named in the CBI chargesheet were discharged by the special court, which had said the agency had failed to produce any material against them to proceed with the trial.
The Enforcement Directorate (ED) is also probing a separate money-laundering case in the Aircel-Maxis matter, in which Chidambaram and Karti have been questioned by the agency.
Both Chidambaram and Karti have denied the allegations levelled against them by the CBI and the ED.
SC allows Karti Chidambaram to travel abroad
The Supreme Court today allowed Karti Chidambaram, son of senior Congress leader P Chidambaram, to visit the United Kingdom, France and the United States of America from July 23 to 31, making it clear that he has to abide by the conditions imposed by it in an earlier similar order.
A bench headed by Chief Justice Dipak Misra considered the submissions of senior advocate A M Singhvi, representing Karti, that he was planning to visit offshore destinations for personal reasons, and granted him the liberty with certain conditions.
The bench, also comprising Justices A M Khanwilkar and D Y Chandrachud, said Karti, who is facing proceedings in cases like Aircel-Maxis, INX media and money laundering matters, will have to surrender his passport with the Enforcement Directorate when he returns from his visit.
Additional Solicitor General Tushar Mehta said the conditions imposed by the court in its earlier orders should be allowed to remain in force.
The plea was allowed by the court. Earlier, the court had allowed Karti to travel abroad with certain conditions, including that he would not open or close any bank account abroad.
Karti, being investigated by the Enforcement Directorate and the CBI in several cases, including the one relating to FIPB clearance to INX Media for receiving foreign funds to the tune of Rs 305 crore when his father was the finance minister, was earlier, too, allowed to go abroad.
The bench had asked Karti to file an undertaking about his flight schedule and return date to India.
It had also directed Karti to return his passport to the probe agency when he returned.
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