Karti Chidambaram gets reprieve from arrest till April 16 in 2G case

A day after Karti Chidambaram, son of senior Congress leader P Chidambaram, got bail in INX media case, a special court on Saturday granted anticipatory bail till April 16 in the Aircel-Maxis case.

Special CBI judge O P Saini granted anticipatory bail to Karti on the condition that he appear before the investigating officer in the case whenever he is summoned.

The court gave three weeks to the CBI and the Enforcement Directorate (ED) to file replies on Karti's anticipatory bail pleas and will next hear the matter on April 16.

"Put up the application for reply by the CBI/ED and disposal on April 16 as prayed. Till then, the applicant shall not be arrested in the instant case," the judge said in the orders.

An identical order was passed in the ED case too.

The case, arising out of the 2G spectrum scam, relates to Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) clearance to firm Global Communication Holding Services Ltd for investment in telecom company Aircel, which declared bankruptcy earlier this year.

Senior lawyer and Congress leader Kapil Sibal appearing for Karti argued that there was neither any allegation against Karti in the Aircel Maxis case, nor was there anything to show that he knew the FIPB officials.

Karti had filed a plea seeking protection of arrest in the Aircel-Maxis matter on Friday in which the CBI and the ED have lodged cases in 2011 and 2012 respectively. ED has alleged that Karti was paid Rs 26 lakh (by the seller of the equity shares of Aircel Ltd to Maxis) on April 11, 2006, for FIPB approval granted to Aircel.