The Supreme Court today refused to grant Karti Chidambaram, the son of former union minister P Chidambaram, interim protection from arrest by the Enforcement Directorate in an alleged money laundering case relating to the INX Media group.
The top court asked the Enforcement Directorate (ED) and the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to file their responses on a fresh plea by Karti against the probe done in the money laundering case.
A bench of Chief Justice Dipak Misra and Justices A M Khanwilkar and D Y Chandrachud said its order will not come in the way of the proceedings being conducted before any court.
"Needless to emphasise, our present order shall have no impact on any proceedings pending against the petitioner in any Court. Matter be listed on March 8," it said.
During the hearing, Additional Solicitor General Tushar Mehta questioned the maintainability of the writ petition filed by Karti saying it cannot be filed under article 32 of the Constitution.
Senior advocate Kapil Sibal, appearing for Karti, said if steps are taken to take away or curtail the liberty of a person without following the due procedure of law, then it can be agitated by way of a writ petition which is a fundamental right.
The bench then clarified that if it held in affirmative the issue of maintainability of the writ petition, then only can it advert to the propositions which relate to constitutional rights.
Sibal said there was serious infringement of his client's fundamental rights due to the "arbitrary and malafide acts" of ED, which is probing the alleged money laundering case.
He said Karti may be arrested by the ED in a "frivolous" case lodged by it after his police custody granted by the trial court to the CBI gets over.
"He should not be taken into ED custody after the CBI custody gets over. The court should grant interim protection from arrest till the time the case is pending. Can't he be protected for few days," Sibal asked.
Mehta then intervened and said that "the plea is being made as if it is an anticipatory bail application".
Sibal retorted saying "No, its not an anticipatory bail application but a substantive writ petition which raises serious question of law."
Referring to a recent media report that ED has found details of Karti transferring Rs 1.8 crore into the bank account of an influential political figure, Sibal said this political figure is none other than his father P Chidambaram.
"Father gave a loan to his son, which was returned by him by way of cheques. Can a father not give loan to his son," Sibal questioned and added that deliberate attempts were made to "humiliate, harass and cause damage to his reputation".
During the nearly half an hour long hearing at around 11 am, Mehta said that Karti will be produced before the trial court on expiry of his police custody and the CBI is likely to seek an extension of his remand.
Sibal argued that investigating agencies have been harassing his client continuously and till date, no copy of Enforcement Case Information Report (ECIR), which is equivalent to an FIR, registered in INX Media case has been given to him.
Sibal, who appeared along with other senior advocates and Congress leaders Salman Khurshid and Vivek Tankha, argued that the probe done by ED was premised on a FIR registered by CBI in respect of a predicate offence which is a scheduled offence under Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).
Without any predicate offence and proceeds of crime, the ED will have no jurisdiction to register an ECIR and investigate under the PMLA, the senior lawyer said.
Karti had yesterday filed the fresh writ plea seeking direction to declare that ED had no jurisdiction to conduct any investigation unrelated to the allegations in the FIR lodged by CBI on May 15, 2017.
He had also sought the quashing of summons and all proceedings initiated by the ED, terming it "unreasonable, without jurisdiction, without authority of law, in colourable exercise of power and vitiated by malafides".
Karti, who was arrested on February 28, at Chennai immediately after he returned from abroad, had also sought direction to the ED to forbear from investigating under the PMLA, the commission of a predicate offence or the existence of proceeds of crime in the M/s INX Media case and investigate the alleged offence of money laundering only if and after the proceeds of crime arising out of a predicate offence are identified by the CBI.
The apex court had on February 23 refused to stay the summons issued by the ED against Karti Chidambaram -- who is presently in CBI custody in the INX Media case.
The ED had registered a case against him and others in May last year. It had registered an ECIR, against the accused named in a CBI complaint. These included Karti Chidambaram, INX Media and its directors, Peter and Indrani Mukerjea.
An FIR, filed on May 15 last year, had alleged irregularities in the Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) clearance to INX Media for receiving Rs 305 crore in overseas funds in 2007 when P Chidambaram was Union finance minister.
Disclaimer: No Business Standard Journalist was involved in creation of this content
