Aircel-Maxis: Delhi court extends protection from arrest to P Chidambaram, son till May 30

The Enforcement Directorate on Monday told a Delhi court that it will need custodial interrogation of former union minister P Chidambaram and his son Karti in Aricel-Maxis deal case once the ongoing probe abroad brings forth evidence.

Special Judge O P Saini extended the protection from arrest to father-son duo till May 30 after the defence cited their pending anticipatory bail petitions, and directed the agency to produce the case file to show what material is being collected.

The court was told by Solicitor General Tushar Mehta and senior advocate Sonia Mathur, on behalf the agency, that Karti Chidambaram was not cooperating.

"We (ED) have sent a Special Joint Director to Singapore and have asked him to expedite the process due to paucity of time. We want to interrogate both the accused in custody after receiving the Letters Rogatory (from UK and Singapore)," the agency told the court.

The agency alleged that "Karti keeps filing applications to travel abroad to play tennis and he does not want to cooperate in the investigation".

The agency made the submissions after senior advocates Kapil Sibal and A M Singhvi, appearing for Chidambarams, requested the court to grant them anticipatory bail, accusing the agency of delaying the matter.

After the agency sought more time to argue on Chidambarams' pending anticipatory bail applications, the defence counsel urged the court to extend the interim relief, which was allowed by the court after the ED as well the CBI did not oppose the request.

While seeking anticipatory bail, Sibal said, "We are deeply prejudiced and we are in public life. We are entitled to bail. Every time the same prayer is made (by agencies). We get no chance to reply.

"CBI has only interrogated once since 2014. Is this fair on the part of prosecution? I say grant us (Chidambarams) the bail, and if they (ED and CBI) come across something, we are available. This is the arrogance on the part of the prosecution."