SC no to intervening against Karti’s bail

NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court refused to interfere with Delhi high court verdict granting anticipatory bail to Karti Chidambaram, son of former union minister P Chidambaram in the INX Media case.

“We do not find any reason to interfere with the high court order,” said a bench of justices AK Sikri and Ashok Bhushan, declining to accept the Central Bureau of Investigation’s (CBI) plea to set aside the pre-arrest bail order in favour of Karti.

On additional solicitor general (ASG) Tushar Mehta’s insistence, the court noted that the observations made by the HC judge shall not influence other proceedings. Mehta illustrated how the judge had commented on the statement given by Indrani Mukherjea, co-founder of INX media, who is also facing charges of murdering her daughter.

Karti has been charged for alleged financial irregularities related to INX Media. Both Chidambaram and Karti have denied all the allegations made by the CBI, as well as the Enforcement Directorate (ED).

Mehta also questioned Karti’s bail also on the grounds that he had invoked the concurrent jurisdiction of the trial court as well as the HC.

Karti’s lawyer, senior advocate Kapil Sibal, rebutted Mehta’s argument and said there is a judgement that concurrent jurisdiction of the trial court and high court can be invoked.

Meanwhile, the same bench gave relief to Nalini Chidambaram, wife of P Chidambaram, against whom the ED issued summons in connection with its money laundering probe into the Saradha ponzi scam.