Aircel Maxis case: Delhi court reserves order on Karti Chidambaram's plea for protection from arrest

NEW DELHI: A Delhi court on Saturday reserved its order on the pleas of Karti Chidambaram seeking protection from arrest in the Aircel-Maxis matter arising out of the 2G spectrum cases.

Special Judge O P Saini reserved the order for later in the day after hearing a battery of senior advocates appearing for Karti, son of former union minister P Chidambaram.

During the hour-long hearing, senior lawyer Kapil Sibal sought anticipatory bail for Karti in the Aircel Maxis cases lodged by the CBI and the Enforcement Directorate (ED).

Karti was on Friday given bail by the high court in the INX media case.

Arguing in the CBI case, Sibal said there was neither any allegation against Karti in the Aircel Maxis case nor there was anything to show that he knew the FIPB officials.

In the ED case, senior advocate Gopal Subramaniam, also appearing for Karti, argued that Karti has cooperated in the other matters as well and there was no question that he would flee from the county or tamper with evidence.

However, both the investigating agencies ED and the CBI sought three weeks time to file a detailed reply on the anticipatory bail plea and said he should not be granted any interim protection till then.

Besides Sibal and Subramanium, the team of lawyers for Karti included senior advocates Salman Khurshid and Mohit Mathur.

Karti's father and former Finance Minister P Chidambaram and his wife Nalini Chidambaram were also present in the court wearing black gowns.

Hours after being granted bail by the Delhi High Court in the INX media case, Karti had yesterday filed his plea seeking protection of arrest in the Aircel-Maxis matter, in which the CBI and the Enforcement Directorate (ED) have lodged cases in 2011 and 2012 respectively.

The matter pertains to grant of Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) clearance to firm M/S Global Communication Holding Services Ltd for investment in Aircel.