Supreme Court tells Karti Chidambaram to approach Delhi High Court for relief against ED summons

The Supreme Court on Wednesday asked Karti Chidambaram, son of former Finance Minister P Chidambaram, to approach the Delhi High Court for interim relief in the INX Media money laundering case. [caption id=“attachment_4371183” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] File image of Karti Chidambaram. PTI[/caption] PTI reported that the apex court asked Karti to move the Delhi High Court on Wednesday itself for interim relief. It also requested acting chief justice to allocate the matter to the appropriate bench. On Tuesday, Karti was sent to three more days of CBI custody by a trial court in the INX Media bribery case and had also failed to get Supreme Court’s interim protection from arrest by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in a related money laundering case. Karti, meanwhile, had sought bail from the trial court, alleging that the CBI was acting at the behest of the Centre to malign the reputation of his father during whose tenure FIPB clearance was granted to the INX Media group. Special CBI Judge Sunil Rana had posted the bail plea for hearing on 9 March when the three-day CBI custody of Karti would come to an end. Karti had contended that his arrest was “illegal and arbitrary” but the central investigating agency had opposed his bail plea, saying the investigation was at a crucial stage and his custodial interrogation was necessary to unearth the entire conspiracy in the INX Media corruption case. The CBI got a shot in the arm when the CBI judge rejected Karti’s stand that the case against him was “politically motivated” and “targeted” to tarnish the image of his father and allowed the agency to subject him to three more days of custodial interrogation. The setback to Karti in the CBI case came few hours after the Supreme Court refused to grant him interim protection from arrest by the ED in a money laundering case relating to the INX Media group. The top court had asked the ED to file its response on a fresh plea by Karti against the probe done in the money laundering case. It had also asked the CBI to respond to Karti’s allegations that he was being harassed by the roving probe of the two agencies. With inputs from PTI