A New Delhi court yesterday granted interim protection from arrest to former finance minister P Chidambaram till August 7 in the Aircel-Maxis deal case.
Special Judge O P Saini asked the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to file a reply on the bail plea of Chidambaram and listed the matter for August 7 for further hearing.
The CBI on Friday filed a charge-sheet against 18 people in the Aircel-Maxis deal case including Chidambaram and his son Karti.
Meanwhile, the Delhi High Court yesterday listed the matter for hearing the anticipatory bail plea of Chidambaram in the INX media money laundering case for today.
Karti was arrested on February 28 for allegedly taking money to facilitate the Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) clearance to INX Media in 2007 when his father was the finance minister in the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government. Later, Karti was granted bail.
The CBI and the Enforcement Directorate (ED) are investigating how Karti managed to get clearance from the FIPB.
In the Aircel-Maxis case, the CBI and ED are investigating Karti’s alleged role in getting the FIPB clearance.
On August 29, 2014, the CBI had filed a charge-sheet alleging that between July 2004 and September 2008, the then telecom minister Dayanidhi Maran used his influence to help Malaysian businessman T A Ananda Krishnan buy Aircel by coercing its owner Sivasankaran to part with his stake.