Aircel Maxis case: Court extends protection to Chidambaram, Karti till September 3

A special court has extended interim protection to P Chidambaram, Karti Chidambaram in the Aircel Maxis case till September 3. The court on Friday reserved the order on their anticipatory bail pleas.

The court refused to adjourn the case on the pleas by CBI and ED, which sought the adjournment saying that another case pertaining to INX Media involving them was pending before the Supreme Court.

Special Judge O P Saini took strong objection to the agencies seeking repeated adjournments, saying "things have become very embarrassing for me".

The court then reserved order on Chidambarams anticipatory bail application for September 3, extending the interim protection from arrest to them till then.

It, however, gave liberty to CBI and ED to argue anytime before that date.

"I do not find any merit in the application of agencies to adjourn the matter. Why you (CBI, ED) asking adjournments day after day?  You are making such arguments for an year.

"Thing have become very embarrassing for me. You have been seeking adjournment day after day. Put up for orders for September 3. They can argue before that whenever they may argue," the court said.

It said that both the matters 'Aircel Maxis and INX Media' were different. On agencies' argument that both cases involved FIPB approvals, the court said there were hundreds were such matters. 

The case relates to alleged irregularities in grant of Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) approval in the Aircel Maxis deal. The father-son duo were given interim protection from arrest by the court after they filed anticipatory bail applications in the case.

The protection has been extended from time to time. The CBI is probing how Chidambaram, when finance minister in 2006, granted FIPB approval to a foreign firm, when only the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) was empowered to do it.

The ED is also probing a separate money laundering case in the Aircel-Maxis matter, in which the Chidambarams have been questioned by the agency and their anticipatory bail is pending.

(With PTI Inputs)