Delhi HC issues notice in ED plea to cancel anticipatory bail to P Chidambaram and Karti Chidambaram in Aircel Maxis case

The Delhi High Court today issued notice to P Chidambaram and Karti Chidambaram in Enforcement Directorate’s plea seeking to cancel the anticipatory bail granted to them by a Special Court in the Aircel Maxis case..Notice was issued by a single judge Bench of Justice Suresh Kumar Kait..The Aircel Maxis case pertains to the alleged irregularities in the Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) approvals granted to the Aircel-Maxis deal at the time when P Chidambaram was Union Finance Minister..It is the prosecution’s case that P Chidambaram, who was the Union Finance Minister at the time when the ₹3,500 crore Aircel-Maxis deal went through, and his son received certain kickbacks to ensure FIPB clearance for the said deal. Seeking cancellation of the bail, the Enforcement Directorate today contended that the order of bail could not be sustained..Solicitor General Tushar Mehta claimed that the Aircel Maxis case was similar to the INX Media case as the modus operandi in both of the cases was the same. He further informed the Court that the Supreme Court, while rejecting P Chidambaram’s anticipatory bail plea in the INX Media case, had upheld the requirement of custodial interrogation of the accused..He added that after the Supreme Court’s order was passed on the morning of the day that the order of anticipatory bail was to be passed by the Special Judge, the Agency even moved an application before the Special Judge to bring on record the Supreme Court’s finding in the INX Media case which is similar in nature..The plea was, however, not considered and the Judge proceeded to pronounce the order, Mehta said..Mehta stressed upon the gravity of the offence at hand and urged the Court to cancel the anticipatory bail granted to P Chidambaram and Karti Chidambaram..Both the CBI and the ED had filed a charge sheet against the father-son duo and others in the case in July 2018. In spite of sanction from the Central Government, the cognizance on the charge sheet is still pending..The Speical Court had granted bail to P Chidambaram and Karti Chidambaram on the grounds that considerable time had lapsed between the commission of the alleged offence and filing of the bail applications and there was an unexplained delay in the investigation..The matter would be heard next on November 29.