INX Media case: Delhi HC judge recuses herself from hearing Karti’s bail plea

Justice Indermeet Kaur of the Delhi High Court on Tuesday recused herself from hearing the bail plea of Karti Chidambaram, arrested by the CBI in the INX Media corruption case.

Justice Kaur, who did not give any reason for her recusal, said she would refer the matter to the Acting Chief Justice for assigning the bail plea to another bench for on Tuesday itself.

The bail plea was on Monday mentioned before a bench of Acting Chief Justice Gita Mittal and Justice C Hari Shankar and was listed for hearing on Tuesday. Karti’s parents P Chidambaram and Nalini Chidambaram, both senior advocates, were present in the courtroom.

Karti, the arrested son of former Union minister P Chidambaram, had moved the high court seeking bail, hours after a court here sent him to judicial custody till March 24.

A special court had on Monday sent Karti to judicial custody in the INX Media corruption case and dismissed his plea that he be put in a separate cell in Tihar Jail in view of a threat perception.

The court had also dismissed his appeal for an urgent hearing on his bail plea and the threat perception due to the fact that his father, as a Union minister in the previous UPA government, had handled several sensitive issues.

The court had sent him to Tihar Jail after the CBI, in whose custody he was quizzed for 12 days in a row after his arrest on February 28 from Chennai, said he was no longer required for further custodial interrogation.

Karti was arrested by the CBI on his return from the United Kingdom in connection with an FIR lodged on May 15 last year.

Meanwhile, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Tuesday approached the Supreme Court against the Delhi High Court order giving relief to Karti Chidambaram till March 20 from arrest in the INX Media money laundering case.