INX Media Case: Karti Chidambaram urges Supreme Court to hear him before ED arrest order

NEW DELHI: Karti Chidambaram, son of former finance minister P. Chidambaram, on Saturday urged the Supreme Court not to pass any order without hearing him, if the Enforcement Directorate (ED) challenges Delhi High Court’s interim order in connection with the INX media money laundering case.

Karti filed a caveat in the apex court in regard to the same.

Yesterday, the Delhi High Court granted interim relief to Karti in connection with the case. The court also directed the ED not to arrest Karti till March 20, the next date of hearing.

Karti was arrested on his return from the UK at the Chennai airport on February 28 and later sent to the probe agency's custody.

Karti is accused of receiving kickbacks a decade back to clear foreign investment into INX Media group, using the influence of his father P. Chidambaram, who was then the Union finance minister.

Meanwhile, a Delhi court extended the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) custody of Karti, till March 12. He has been in the custody of the CBI since his arrest on February 28, which ended on March 9.

The CBI, however, had sought his remand for six more days.

Delhi’s Patiala House Court also allowed the CBI application seeking permission to confront Karti with his chartered accountant S Bhaskaraman in Tihar jail.

CBI application seeking permissions to bring Indrani Mukerjea and Peter Mukerjea to Delhi for confrontation and for identification of some locations in Delhi in presence of Karti Chidambaram has been dismissed as not pressed by the CBI Special Court.

The CBI has also recovered fresh documents relating to case after conducting searches on March 7 and 8 and submitted the seized documents to the court.