look news india
New Delhi, 20 November (HS). Former Union Minister P. Chidambaram and his son Karti Chidambaram have got a big relief from Delhi High Court. Justice Manoj Kumar Ohri on Wednesday stayed the proceedings going on in the trial court in the money laundering case of Aircel-Maxis deal. The court has given notice to ED and sought its reply. The next hearing of the case will be in January 2025.
Congress leader P. Chidambaram and his son Karti Chidambaram have filed a petition in the Delhi High Court challenging the Rouse Avenue Court’s order to take cognizance of the charge sheet. Senior lawyer N. appearing for Chidambaram. Hariharan said that the trial court had taken cognizance of the charge sheet without getting permission to prosecute. The former Union Minister was a public servant, hence permission is required for prosecution under the provisions of Section 197(1) of the Code of Criminal Procedure. Opposing this, the lawyer appearing for ED said that this petition is not maintainable because there is no need to take permission in this case. He said that the allegation in this case was on Chidambaram’s actions, which were not related to his official work. ED said that there is no need to take permission for prosecution in this case. During the hearing, the High Court was told that this matter is to be heard in the trial court tomorrow i.e. on 20th November.
It is noteworthy that on March 23, 2022, 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 charge sheet filed against the accused by CBI and ED. Apart from P. Chidambaram and Karti Chidambaram, M/s Padma Bhaskar Raman, M/s Advantages Strategic Consulting Pvt Ltd and M/s Chase Management Services Pvt Ltd have also been made accused in the case filed by ED.
In the case filed by CBI, apart from P. Chidambaram and Karti Chidambaram, Ashok Kumar Jha, Kumar Sanjay Krishna, Deepak Kumar Singh, Ramsharan, 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 Anand Krishnan, Augustus Ralph Marshall, M/s. The names of Advantage Strategic Consulting Private Limited, S Bhaskaran and V Srinivasan are included.
