Aircel Maxis: Delhi Court grants regular bail to ex-Union Minister P Chidambaram, son in cases filed by CBI, ED

The court, which had earlier granted anticipatory bail to both the accused in the matter, accepted the bail bonds of Rs one lakh each in both the cases and granted regular bail.

New Delhi: A Delhi Court on Wednesday granted regular bail to former union minister P Chidambaram and his son Karti in corruption and money laundering cases filed by the CBI and ED respectively in relation to the Aircel-Maxis deal. The court, which had earlier granted anticipatory bail to both the accused in the matter, accepted the bail bonds of Rs one lakh each in both the cases and granted regular bail.

The accused had moved application through their lawyer Arshdeep Singh, seeking relief after they appeared before the court in pursuance of summons issued against them after it took cognizance of the charge sheets filed by the probe agencies in the matter. Earlier, the court had directed the agencies to file a status report in the Aircel-Maxis case which was adjourned sine die. The case relates to alleged irregularities in the grant of Foreign Investment Promotion Board approval in the Aircel-Maxis deal.

The approval was granted in 2006 when Chidambaram was the Finance Minister. The CBI and the ED had alleged that Chidambaram, as finance minister, had granted approval to the deal beyond his capacity benefiting certain persons and received kickbacks.

PTI