Relief to Karti till March 26

Karti Chidambaram, son of former finance minister P Chidambaram who is still in judicial custody till March 24, on Thursday got double relief, first from Delhi High Court extending protection from arrest by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) for alleged money laundering in the INX Media case from March 20 to 22 and then the Supreme Court extending it up to March 26.

Significantly, the Bench of Chief Justice Dipak Misra and Justices AM Khanwilkar and DY Chandrachud also transferred to itself all ED matters pending before Delhi High Court. "We feel this is essential in view of several High Courts giving conflicting views on interpretation of Section 19 of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) relating to ED''s power to arrest a suspect," the court said fixing March 26 to give interpretation to this section. The SC order came hours after Delhi High Court extended Karti's protection from arrest by the ED, thus bringing back to itself the case it had ordered Delhi High Court only on March 8 to decide interim protection to him.

Special CBI Judge Sunil Rana of the Patiala Courts here also heard the CBI on the bail application of Karti, who was sent to the judicial lock-up on Monday after 13 days of his grilling while taking him in his custody.

Additional Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, who appeared for ED and CBI, opposed relief to Karti in the Apex Court, contending that his petition for protection of fundamental rights was merely an "attempt to get anticipatory bail." He insisted that the interim protection sought by Karti was an abuse of the Supreme Court''s jurisdiction to grant anticipatory bail. The apex court's decision came after the CBI and the ED petitioned the SC challenging Delhi HC decision to grant interim relief to Karti, from possible arrest by the ED in the INX case for alleged money laundering. Mehta detailed what he called a "gross abuse of process of law" and how pieces in a maze were made to fall into place, setting the stage for relief.

Delhi High Court Bench of Justices S Muralidhar and I S Mehta earlier in the day changed the date of hearing from March 20 to March 22 after Karti's counsel said senior advocate Kapil Sibal representing him will not be available on March 20.

The Enforcement Directorate counsel Vinod Diwakar told the Court he had instructions from Additional Solicitor General (ASG) Tushar Mehta that he has no objection if the date of hearing is changed to March 22.

The High Court had on March 9 directed the ED not to arrest or take any coercive action against Karti, till March 20 in the money laundering case.