The Delhi High Court on Friday granted bail to Karti Chidambaram, son of Congress leader P. Chidamabaram, in the INX Media case.
Mr. Karti was arrested by the CBI on February 28 at the Chennai airport on his return from the United Kingdom. He remained in police custody till March 12. Subsequently, he was sent to judicial custody.
Justice S.P. Garg, while grating bail to Mr. Karti, imposed a long list of conditions, including the one that he seek permission of the trial court in Delhi if he wanted to leave the country.
‘Surrender passport’
The judge asked him to deposit his passport with the trial court, if it had not been done so far. He also barred Mr. Karti from closing any of his bank accounts in India or abroad before intimation to the CBI.
He could not change the entity or composition of any business concerns with which he is associated without intimation to the CBI. The court asked him to make himself available to the CBI for investigation as and when required.
“There appears no possibility of the petitioner [Mr. Karti] fleeing from justice. His parents are senior advocates; he has family to take care of; he has roots in society and is not a previous convict,” the judge said in his order.
The High Court also took into account the fact that Mr. Karti had joined the investigation before the CBI last year in terms of the order of the Supreme Court.
During the hearing, the CBI had opposed the bail plea, contending that the investigation, spread across various parts of the country, was still in process, and at a very crucial stage. “Cogent and credible evidence has been gathered establishing the petitioner’s involvement in the commission of serious criminal and grave economic offences,” it had told the court.
The agency alleged irregularities in a Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) clearance given to INX Media, when his father was the Union Finance Minister.
On March 15, the Supreme Court transferred cases pertaining to Mr. Karti back to itself, a few days after it advised him to move the Delhi High Court for interim protection against arrest by the Enforcement Directorate in the INX Media case. The court granted him interim protection from arrest by the ED till March 26, the next date of hearing.
