Face of Nation : A day after granting P Chidambaram and his son Karti safety from arrest within the Aircel-Maxis case with robust remarks for the investigative companies looking for their arrest, a trial courtroom adjourned the case indefinitely on Friday.
CBI courtroom Choose OP Saini directed the CBI and Enforcement Directorate to “revive” the case after they obtained a response from the international locations to which they’d written, asking for data on the previous Finance Minister.
On Thursday, Choose OP Saini had granted pre-arrest bail to the Chidambarams within the case filed by the CBI and Enforcement Directorate, saying that the costs in opposition to them had been “not grave” and the quantity concerned was “paltry”. The decide additionally questioned what he known as an “unexplained delay in investigation” and referred to “discrimination”.
“Considering the distance of time between the commission of alleged crime and the filing of the instant application, unexplained delay in investigation, there being no possibility of the applicants/accused tampering with the evidence or threatening any witness or fleeing from justice and there being no possibility also of applicants/accused committing a similar crime again, I am satisfied that it is a fit case for grant of benefit of anticipatory bail,” mentioned Choose Saini.
The courtroom directed the Chidambarams to hitch the probe within the instances lodged by the 2 companies and mentioned that if arrested, they might be launched on a private bond of Rs 1 lakh. The courtroom mentioned they might not depart the nation with out permission, warned them in opposition to committing an identical crime once more and in addition mentioned they might not contact, threaten or affect any witnesses within the instances or tamper with proof.
Earlier than Mr Chidambaram and his son had been made accused within the Aircel-Maxis case, a particular courtroom on February 2, 2017, had discharged DMK chief and former Telecom Minister Dayanidhi Maran, his brother Kalanithi Maran and others by the CBI and Enforcement Directorate. Later, each the companies had filed a supplementary cost sheet naming the Chidambarams within the rip-off.
Choose Saini mentioned the “allegations against Chidambarams are not of grave magnitude as the money allegedly laundered is about Rs 1.13 crore, which is paltry in comparison to allegations against Dayanidhi Maran and others, where the bribe amount was Rs 749 crore, but he (Dayanidhi) was not arrested.”
The decide berated the companies, saying: “An investigating agency should not discriminate against the two similarly situated accused, as this was against the rule of law. It may be noted that unwarranted discrimination in the treatment given to different accused in the same case violates the basic norm of the Constitution that the state instrumentalities should always operate in a just, fair and reasonable manner.”
Each Mr Chidambaram and his son are MPs, the courtroom famous. “Chidambaram is a member of the Rajya Sabha while Karti a member of Lok Sabha… Considering these factors, there was no apparent possibility of the accused fleeing from justice. Prosecution has also not cited any appreciable reason for such apprehension,” mentioned the decide, including that there was “no possibility” for the Chidambarams to commit an identical crime as “they don’t hold any official position in the government at present”.
The courtroom commented that as a substitute of arguing the case, the companies had been looking for “date after date” after submitting the criticism on the pretext of investigating additional.
The investigation had been “highly delayed” by each the companies as they’d nearly the complete materials for the reason that starting, mentioned the decide. The reprieve within the Aircel-Maxis case got here between two damning courtroom orders for Mr Chidambaram, 74, within the INX Media case.
One, a Supreme Courtroom order denying him safety from arrest by the Enforcement Directorate and the second, a Delhi courtroom’s choice to ship the Congress chief to judicial custody, which meant the Tihar Jail.
