Karti I-T case: Interim stay extended till February 25

When the petitions filed by them came up for hearing, Justice M Sundar, who had granted an interim stay on January 21 and extended it on Wednesday, gave further extension till February 25 after hearing detailed arguments. In their pleas, they sought a direction to stall the proceedings against the Special Court trying cases against elected MLAs and MPs, which was earlier scheduled to frame charges against them on January 21.

Special Court Judge D Lingeswaran had on January 7 dismissed their discharge petitions observing that there were adequate grounds to presume the accused has committed offences, while finding merit in the evidence submitted by the prosecution.

Rejecting the plea of the accused that hard drives could not be admitted as evidence, the Judge said, it was clear that the hard drives in question were seized from Chess Global Advisory Services and the seized hard drives were sealed properly and they were under custody.

The Judge also directed prosecution to go ahead with the framing of charges on January 21 and said if both the accused were not present on that day, warrants would be issued against them, following which Karti and his wife filed an appeal in the High Court against the Special Court order, which has granted an interim stay. A day after the Special Court dismissed their discharged pleas, Karti said no cash was involved in the sale transaction.

The issue pertained to sale of land owned by Karti and his wife at Muttukadu to a firm in 2015-16, in which I-T department and the ED said cash transactions were involved.