Delhi HC extends Karti Chidambaram's protection from arrest in INX Media case

New Delhi: The Delhi High Court on Thursday extended the protection from arrest to Karti Chidambaram in the INX Media money laundering case from March 20 to 22. A bench of justices S Muralidhar and I S Mehta changed the date of hearing from March 20 to 22 after Karti’s counsel said that senior advocate Kapil Sibal will not be available on March 20.

Sibal is representing Karti in the matter. The Enforcement Directorate counsel Vinod Diwakar said he has instructions from Additional Solicitor General (ASG) Tushar Mehta that the ASG has no objection if the date of hearing is changed to March 22.

To this, the bench said, “Since no objection has been expressed by the ED for changing the dates, the petition is fixed for hearing on March 22.” The high court had on March 9 directed the ED not to arrest or take any coercive action against Karti, son of senior Congress leader P Chidambaram, till March 20 in the money laundering case.

Karti is presently lodged in Tihar jail in connection with CBI’s INX media corruption case relating to irregularities in the FIPB clearance given to the firm. The ED has challenged in the Supreme Court the high court’s March 9 order granting interim protection to Karti and it is listed for hearing today.