New Delhi: Former Union Minister P Chidambaram and his son Karti Chidambaram have got a big relief as the Delhi High Court has stayed the trial court proceedings related to alleged money laundering in the Aircel-Maxis case against them. The court has issued a notice to the Enforcement Directorate (ED), seeking its response. The next hearing of the case will be in January 2025.
P Chidambaram and his son Karti Chidambaram have filed a petition in the Delhi High Court challenging the order of the Rouse Avenue Court to take cognizance of the chargesheet filed by ED against them. Senior advocate N Hariharan, representing Chidambaram, said the trial court had taken cognizance of the chargesheet without getting permission to conduct the prosecution. The former Union Minister was a public servant, so permission is required to conduct prosecution under the provisions of Section 197 (1) of the Code of Criminal Procedure, the advocate argued.
Opposing this, the lawyer representing ED said the petition is not admissible for hearing as there is no need to take permission in this case. He said there is an allegation against Chidambaram that is not related to his official work. So there is no need to take permission to conduct prosecution, ED's lawyer had said. During the hearing, the high court was told that the trial court will hear the matter on November 20.
Notably on March 23, 2022, the Rouse Avenue Court had granted regular bail to P Chidambaram and Karti Chidambaram in both the CBI and ED cases related to this. On November 27, 2021, the court took cognizance of the chargesheet filed by CBI and ED against the accused. Apart from P Chidambaram and Karti Chidambaram, M/s Padma Bhaskar Raman, M/s Advantages Strategic Consulting Private Limited and M/s Chase Management Services Private Limited were also made accused in the case filed by ED.
Apart from P Chidambaram and Karti Chidambaram, the CBI named Ashok Kumar Jha, Kumar Sanjay Krishna, Deepak Kumar Singh, Ram Sharan, A Palaniappan, M/s Astro All Asia Networks PLC, M/s Maxis Mobile Sdn Bhd, M/s Bhoomi Armada Berhad, Bhoomi Armada Navigation Sdn Bhd, T Ananda Krishnan, Augustus Ralph Marshall, M/s Advantage Strategic Consulting Pvt Ltd, S Bhaskaran and V Srinivasan in the case filed by the agency.
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