The 2G trial court headed by Judge OP Saini on Monday, preponed the hearing the Aircel Maxis case and extended the interim protection from arrest given to former Finance Minister P Chidambaram and son Karti till February 18 in the Aircel-Maxis case. Earlier hearing was fixed on February 1. By extending the protection up to February 18, Judge Saini noted that that he will not be available on February 1 for which the matter was earlier listed.
Many CBI and ED officials said they were not aware about the pre-poning the hearing date. Meanwhile, Delhi High Court has already reserved Chidambaram’s petition for protection from arrest in INX Media bribery case last week for pronouncement of the order.
CBI and ED, in their replies to the anticipatory bail pleas of Chidambarams, had recently told the court that custodial interrogation of both the accused was required since various new materials have surfaced after filing of the charge sheet, alleging that they were not cooperating in the probe.
Meanwhile Supreme Court on Monday asked the Enforcement Directorate to specify by January 30 the date on which it wants to interrogate on Karti. The apex court was considering Karti’s petition to go abroad to attend tennis matches related works. The bench comprising Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi and Justice Sanjiv Khanna asked Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for the ED, to seek instructions and give the date on which the probe agency wanted to quiz Karti.