Court turned into fortress ahead of Karti's production

The Patiala House district court complex here turned into a fortress today as soon as the news of Karti Chidambaram's arrest in connection with the INX Media case was flashed in the media.

The police swung into action immediately after receiving information that Karti, son of senior Congress leader P Chidambaram, has been flown from Chennai to Delhi at around 11 AM, as barricades were put up at crucial points in the court premises.

A mad rush of CBI officials, defence lawyers, scribes and onlookers were witnessed even before Karti was brought to the court of special judge Sunil Rana.
 

No sooner the news came that the medical check up of Karti has been completed, scribes started moving towards the courtroom and lensmen started taking vantage positions, apprehending that the route was likely to be taken over by the CBI to bring him to the court complex.

Karti's mother Nalini Chidambaram, herself a senior advocate, was present in the court room before her son was brought there. Both of them were also seen in conversation after the arguments concluded.

Earlier, newspersons tried to get some news byte from Nalini Chidambaram, when she was entering the court complex, but she refused to make any comment. The arguments started at around 5.10 PM and the matter was over around 7.30 PM.

However, at around 4.30 PM, the court staff of the concerned special CBI judge informed the advocates that Karti would be produced before duty magistrate Sumeet Anand, who was scheduled to hold the court after the regular court hours. The concerned special judge had left the court premises after 4.30 PM, the regular court hours.

Around 20 minutes later, CBI sleuths accompanied Karti, who was clad in dark green jacket, black polo T-shirt and black pant, to the court of the duty magistrate at around 4.50 PM.

Everyone rushed to court number 30 in the adjoining building where the duty magistrate was holding court. However, when scribes, advocates unconnected with the case and onlookers entered the courtroom, the staff asked them to wait outside considering lack of space.

However, later the prosecution and the defence advocates entered the room and were followed by others, including some journalists.

Karti was brought to the courtroom and his counsel and senior advocate Abhishek Manu Singhvi requested the court to let the accused meet his advocates and family members for ten minutes, which was allowed.

Throughout the argument, Karti looked confident as he stood behind the advocates and was seen smiling and talking to his lawyers. After the arguments, the matter was again adjourned for 15 minutes and the accused again spoke to his advocates.