A special court in New Delhi on Wednesday granted interim protection to former Union minister P Chidambaram from arrest till June 5 in the Aircel-Maxis money laundering case.
Special Judge OP Saini announced the order and directed him to join the investigation on June 5, the date when the Enforcement Directorate (ED) has asked him to appear before it for questioning.
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The court has asked ED to file a response on Chidambaram’s anticipatory bail plea and listed the matter for further hearing on June 5.
The Central Bureau of Investigation and the Enforcement Directorate are investigating how Karti Chidambaram allegedly managed to get a clearance from the Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) in the Aircel-Maxis deal when his father P Chidambaram was the Finance Minister in 2006.
Earlier on Wednesday, senior advocates Kapil Sibal and Abhishek Manu Singhvi, who appeared for Chidambaram, urged the court to grant him the relief considering the former minister has clean antecedents and deep roots in society.
In his plea, Chidambaram said all the evidence in the matter appeared to be documentary in nature, which was already in the possession of the incumbent government and nothing was to be recovered from him.
Earlier, the court granted interim protection to Karti Chidambaram from arrest till July 10 in the Aircel-Maxis deal case.
The relief was granted to Karti after ED sought time to argue on his application seeking anticipatory bail.
(With agency inputs)