Aircel Maxis Case: Delhi Court grants exemption to P Chidambaram from personal appearance; Karti appears before Rouse Avenue Court

A court in Delhi on Monday granted exemption from personal appearance to former union minister P Chidambaram in the ongoing Aircel Maxis case of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and Enforcement Directorate (ED).

New Delhi: A Delhi Court on Monday granted exemption from personal appearance to former union minister P Chidambaram in the ongoing Aircel Maxis case of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and Enforcement Directorate (ED). Meanwhile, Karti Chidambaram appeared before Delhi's Rouse Avenue Court.

Chidambaram's lawyer counsel Arshdeep Singh Khurana informed Special Judge MK Nagpal the Court that they both are on anticipatory bail in this matter. The Court directed them to move the regular bail in the matter.

Meantime, P Chidambaram through his application informs that he is not able to appear before the court as he had a prefixed travelling schedule. The Court allowed his exemption application. The Court directed the probe agencies to supply copies of the charge sheet and documents to the accused.

The accused have appeared before the Delhi Court in pursuance of summons issued against them after the Court had taken cognizance of the charge sheets filed by probe agencies in the matter.

All the accused mentioned in the Chargesheet of CBI and ED were asked to appear before the court on December 20, 2021. Agency has mentioned several individuals and firms accused in the charge sheet.

Additional Sanjay Jain, appearing for probe agencies had earlier informed the court that agencies have sent LRs to different countries and there are some developments in that regard.

The CBI had earlier also submitted that it is working on a new lead. Both agencies have filed the status report too in court earlier. Senior Advocate Sonia Mathur also appeared for both agencies while Advocate Naveen Kumar Matta represented ED and Advocate KK Goel represented CBI in the matter

Earlier, the court had directed the agencies to file a status report in the Aircel Maxis case involving P Chidambaram and his son Karti Chidambaram which was adjourned sine die. The court, while asking for reports from the agencies, said that the allegations mentioned in the chargesheet appeared to be "quite serious in nature."

Predecessor Judge OP Saini, while granted anticipatory bail had observed that the entire evidence related to the commission of the crime by the two accused was documentary in nature and is not liable to be tampered with by both accused.

The case, which is being probed by the CBI and ED, relates to alleged irregularities in grant of Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) approval in the Aircel-Maxis deal. The FIPB approval was allegedly granted in 2006 when Chidambaram was the Union finance minister.

ANI