Aircel-Maxis case: Karti Chidambaram gets protection from arrest till April 16

Karti Chidambaram, who is accused of receiving kickbacks in the Aircel-Maxis deal, was on Saturday granted an anticipatory bail.

New Delhi: A special court on Saturday granted an anticipatory bail to Karti Chidambaram, the son former Union minister P Chidambaram, in connection with the Aircel Maxis alleged bribery case.

The special court judge, OP Saini, while granting Karti the anticipatory bail, directed him to appear before the investigating officer whenever he is summoned. 

The court also posted the matter for next hearing on April 16.

Ahead of the special court order, the Enforcement Directorate filed a reply and opposed the anticipatory bail plea filed by Karti Chidambaram in connection with Aircel-Maxis matter.

Karti had on Friday filed an anticipatory bail plea in the Delhi court in the case which pertains to the alleged irregularities in FIPB clearance to a company in the Aircel-Maxis matter arising out of the 2G spectrum cases.

Karti had sought protection of arrest in the case in which the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and the ED have lodged cases in 2011 and 2012 respectively.

The ED also accused Karti of 'forum shopping' and said, "Karti has approached multiple courts through multiple applications."

Meanwhile, the counsel of Karti Chidambaram, Kapil Sibal said, "The allegation is that the then finance minister P Chidambaram granted the approval without going to the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA). The question is whether the Finance Minister's approval was valid or not. What has that got to do with Karti Chidambaram?".

The Aircel-Maxis deal refers to a series of allegations of kickbacks in the telecom sector, which was part of the wider 2G scam that engulfed the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) regime. 

(With ANI inputs)