New Delhi, March 9:  The Delhi High Court on Friday granted interim relief to Karti Chidambaram from Enforcement Directorate arrest in connection with INX Media Case. The Court has granted relief till the next date of hearing which is March 20, 2018 and has also issued a notice to ED and the government on Karti's plea. The Delhi court also extended judicial custody of Karti Chidambaram’s CA S Bhaskararaman till March 22.

The ED on Thursday refused to rule out Karti's arrest under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA). It had also resisted any interim protection to him from the Supreme Court. The ED also prompted Karti's lawyers to withdraw the plea from the top court and go to the High Court asking for relief.

Karti, son of senior Congress leader P Chidambaram was produced before a Delhi court in the INX Media money laundering case on Friday. The three-day custody granted to Karti by the court ended today.  As per reports,  the special CBI Judge Sunil Rana heard the bail plea of Karti Chidambaram today.

Karti in his plea claimed that he had never attempted to influence witnesses, tamper with documentary evidence, pollute or obstruct the judicial process as was alleged by the probe agency.

Earlier, he sought bail from the court alleging that the CBI was acting at the behest of the Centre to malign the reputation of his father during whose tenure Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) clearance was granted to the INX Media group.

To recall, Karti was arrested on February 28 at Chennai airport soon after he returned from his London trip. The ED had registered a case against him and others in May 2017 in connection with the money laundering case. 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.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Mar 09, 2018 01:24 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).