P Chidambaram
Former Union minister P Chidambaram was on Monday granted interim protection from arrest till August 7 in Aircel-Maxis case.
Earlier today, Chidambaram moved court seeking anticipatory bail in the case. Special CBI Judge O P Saini kept the matter for hearing at 2 pm.
Chidambaram and his son Karti Chidambaram were named in a charge sheet filed by the CBI in the case on July 19.
The agency had filed its supplementary charge sheet before the special judge, who had fixed it for consideration on July 31.
The CBI is probing as to how Chidambaram, who was the finance minister in 2006, granted the Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) approval to a foreign firm when only the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) was empowered to do it.
The senior Congress leader's role has come under the scanner of investigating agencies in the Aircel-Maxis deal of Rs 3,500 crore and the INX Media case involving Rs 305 crore.
In its charge sheet filed earlier in the case against former telecom minister Dayanidhi Maran, his brother Kalanithi Maran and others, the agency had alleged that Chidambaram had granted FIPB approval in March 2006 to Mauritius-based Global Communication Services Holdings Ltd, a subsidiary of Maxis.
The Maran brothers and other accused, who were listed in the CBI charge sheet earlier, were discharged by the special court which had said that the agency had failed to produce any material against them to proceed with the trial.
The Enforcement Directorate is also probing a separate money laundering case in the Aircel-Maxis case in which Chidambaram and Karti have been questioned by the agency.
Both Chidambaram and Karti have denied the allegations levelled against them by the CBI and ED.
(With PTI inputs)
