A Delhi court on Wednesday directed the Enforcement Directorate not to take any coercive action till June 5 against former Union Minister P. Chidambaram in the Aircel-Maxis case.
Special Judge O.P. Saini passed the direction when Kapil Sibal, counsel for Mr. Chidambaram, arguing for anticipatory bail, submitted that the applicant was ready to join the investigation as and when he was called by the the Directorate.
“In view of the above submission, put up the application [for anticipatory bail] on 05.06.2018 as prayed. Applicant/accused is directed to join the investigation as and when called...,’’ Mr. Saini said in his two-page order.
Plea to court
Earlier, moving the anticipatory bail application, Mr. Sibal submitted that Mr. Chidambaram apprehended arrest in the case, in which the main accused Dayanidhi Maran had already been discharged.
The application filed through advocate P.K. Dubey urged the court to “direct that the applicant/accused is released on bail in the event of his arrest in relation to the enforcement case investigation report (ECIR) /05/DZ/2012 registered by the respondent (Directorate) relating to Aircel-Maxis case...”
All the evidence in the case appeared to be documentary in nature and they were already in the possession of the ED and the CBI.
The documentary evidence itself was in the form of files in the Ministry of Finance which were currently in the safe and secure possession of the Centre. As such, there was no possibility of the applicant being able to tamper with the evidence, Also, no recovery was to be made from Mr. Chidambaram, the application said.
INX Media case
Later, Mr. Chidambram moved the Delhi High Court seeking anticipatory bail in the INX Media case.
When the matter was mentioned before Justice S.P. Garg, he recused himself. Subsequently, the case was transferred to Justice A.K. Pathak.
Justice Pathak agreed to hear the case after 3 p.m., but Mr. Sibal said there were some difficulties, following which all the parties consented to posting the case for Thursday.
