The Supreme Court on Monday said it would peruse certain documents produced by the CBI in a sealed cover allegedly pertaining to an investigation involving Karti Chidambaram, son of former Union Finance Minister P. Chidambaram, in order to decide whether a lookout circular issued against him is illegal.
A Bench led by Chief Justice Dipak Misra scheduled the hearing for November 9 despite strong objections from Karti’s counsel and senior advocate Kapil Sibal. The court, however, said it could not be expected to decide on the lookout circular without examining the documents first.
Additional Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, for the CBI, submitted that the documents were “crucial evidence” and very much a part of the case diary. “If we find that it [documents] is some kind of a gimmick, then it is allright for you [Karti]. If we do not look at the material, how do we know for certain?” Chief Justice Misra asked Mr. Sibal.
Questioned twice
Mr. Sibal reminded the court that Karti was summoned and questioned twice by the CBI in August. He had not since been summoned. “In this scenario, why has his personal liberty been curtailed?” Mr. Sibal asked. Karti has a lookout circular (LOC) issued against him by the government to prevent him from travelling abroad.
The notice is in connection with a probe into a Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) approval given to INX Media in 2007 when Mr. Chidambaram was Finance Minister.
In an affidavit, Karti said he had to visit Cambridge in the U.K. in connection with a lecture on the subject ‘The Rule of Law and Democratic Development in Pakistan’ by human rights lawyers and activist Asma Jahangir on November 10. He said he had to also attend, as a committee member, a meeting of the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) in London on November 11 and 12.
“Again I have to make a second trip to Cambridge in December 2017 in connection with the admission of my daughter in Cambridge next year as I could not travel earlier due to the LOC,” Karti, represented by advocate N.R.R. Arun Natarajan, submitted. He has sought permission to travel abroad between November 5 to November 15 and December 1 to December 7 of 2017.
In a separate additional affidavit, Karti accused the Enforcement Directorate of indulging in a “roving and fishing enquiry” against him in the INX media case after “having failed in its attempt to falsely implicate me [Karti] in connection with an earlier FIPB approval [in the Aircel Maxis case].”
He submitted that the ED could “only stumble upon a receipt of ₹10 lakh as fee by Advantage Strategic Consulting Pvt Ltd for consultation work done for INX Media Pvt Ltd in the year 2008.”
“The ED clutched at this information and passed on the information relating to the receipt of ₹10 lakh by M/s Advantage on July 15, 2008 to the CBI. Further, the ED requested the CBI to file the FIR under the Prevention of Corruption Act, trying to link the receipt of ₹10 lakh to the grant of FIPB approval dated May 18, 2007 to INX Media Pvt Ltd,” Karti submitted.
He contended that the payment of ₹10 lakh to M/s Advantage and the FIPB approval to INX Media were “two independent events” which the government agencies have been trying to link “purely on the basis of irrelevant inferences, presumptions, surmises, conjectures and wild imagination.”
