The Supreme Court has given the CBI time till Monday to take instructions on whether it was open to relax the travel ban on Karti Chidambaram, who has challenged the lookout circular issued against him on June 16 this year.
Karti, the son of former Finance Minister P Chidambaram, is being probed by CBI for allegedly receiving kickbacks from a company INX Media in lieu of the Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) clearance granted to the company during the tenure of his father as Finance Minister.
After the lookout notice against Karti was stayed by the Madras HC, the CBI had rushed to the Supreme Court and obtained a stay on the HC order. The Apex Bench of Chief Justice Dipak Misra, Justices AM Khanwilkar and DY Chandrachud felt that the legal question on whether the travel ban can be issued against a person willing to cooperate with investigations could be decided by the Madras HC. The CBI also sought time to take instructions in this regard as well.
Additional Solicitor General (ASG) Tushar Mehta appearing for the CBI expressed reservations on the Madras HC hearing the matter.
In his view, the Delhi HC alone had territorial jurisdiction to hear the matter since the case against Karti and four other Directors of two Karti-linked firms to which kickbacks were allegedly paid, was registered at Delhi. In this regard, the Apex Bench issued notice on a fresh appeal of CBI questioning jurisdiction of the Madras HC to hear Karti's case.
The Bench told Mehta that the HC order staying the lookout circular did serve the purpose of CBI by asking him to inform the investigating officer three days in advance before leaving the shores of the country.
"Suppose there is no lookout circular, you are not helpless," the Bench added. Mehta brought a sealed cover containing evidence to show how Karti tampered with his bank accounts on his visit abroad. He said this evidence will be sufficient for the court to continue with the lookout circular.
Senior advocate Kapil Sibal objected claiming that the evidence can’t be filed in the present case as CBI was free to lodge a fresh case.