A Delhi court on Thursday granted extended protection from arrest till November 26 to former Union Minister P. Chidambaram and his son Karti in the Aircel-Maxis case filed by the CBI and ED.

The Enforcement Directorate(ED) had on Wednesday opposed the anticipatory Chidambaram in the Aircel-Maxis money laundering case and sought his custodial interrogation. The ED filed its response in the court of Special Judge O P Saini to the anticipatory bail plea of Chidambaram, said that he has remained evasive and was not cooperating in the probe. Additional Solicitor General Tusshar Mehta, appearing for the CBI and ED, told CBI Special Judge O.P. Saini, “We have to meet a deadline and he (P Chidambaram) is not cooperating.” He also told the court that the CBI will file its reply to the anticipatory bail application of P. Chidambaram on Thursday.

The court had on Oct 8 extended the interim protection from arrest till November 1 the interim protection from arrest granted to Chidambaram and his son Karti in the Aircel-Maxis case filed by the CBI and the ED. Chidambaram had filed the plea for protection from arrest in the ED case on May 30 this year after which he got relief from the court on various occasions.

The ED had on Oct 25 Chidambaram as an accused in the Aircel-Maxis case. The agency filed a second supplementary chargesheet in the case that day accusing the Congress leader of being involved in money-laundering. Earlier, it had named his son Karti Chidambaram as the prime accused in the case – for allegedly taking Rs 1.6 crore in kickbacks for getting the Aircel-Maxis deal cleared by the erstwhile Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) during Chidambaram tenure as Finance Minister in the UPA government.

—India Legal Bureau