SC allows Karti Chidambaram to travel abroad in May and June

NEW DELHI: In a big relief for Karti Chidambaram, the Supreme Court (SC) on Tuesday allowed him to travel to the US, Germany and Spain in May and June.

It is to be noted that Karti is facing criminal cases and ED and CBI are currently probing these cases against him.

While granting the relief to Karti, a SC bench comprising Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi and Justices Deepak Gupta and Sanjiv Khanna said the permission to travel abroad was subject to compliance of conditions imposed earlier by the apex court.

It may be recalled that in January the top court had allowed Karti, son of former finance minister and Congress leader P Chidambaram, to travel abroad after depositing Rs 10 crore with SC secretary general. Karti was also ordered by the top court to file an undertaking that he would not abscond and cooperate with the investigation.

One of the cases filed against Karti relates to the clearance given to INX Media by Foreign Investment Promotion Board clearance for receiving foreign funds of Rs 305 crore when P Chidambaram was finance minister.

Meanwhile, a Delhi court on Monday extended the interim protection from arrest granted to both Karti and P Chidambaram in Aircel-Maxis cases till May 30.

The protection was granted by Special Judge O P Saini after senior advocate Abhishek Manu Singhvi, appearing for the Chidambarams, appealed the court in this regard.

Singhvi made the request after Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for the CBI and ED, urged the court to grant some more time to the agencies to complete the probe.

The case relates to alleged irregularities in grant of Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) approval in the Aircel-Maxis deal.