NEW DELHI: A court here on Thursday transferred the INX Media case against newly-elected MP Karti Chidambaram to a special court trying cases against lawmakers. District Judge OP Saini said the case will be heard by Special Judge Arun Bhardwaj, who exclusively deals with cases related to the MP/MLA court in the Rouse Avenue court complex.
Judge Bhardwaj said he will hear the matter on August 7 as he has to read the file of the case. The court order came after the case was marked to it by another special court which was already hearing the matter.
On Wednesday, Special Judge Anurag Sain, who was scheduled to pass an order on plea of former INX Media director Indrani Mukerjea seeking to become approver in the case, asked the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to clarify whether he has jurisdiction to entertain the plea or not.
Judge Sain has sought legal opinion on this as Karti Chidambaram, son of former Union Finance Minister P Chidambaram, was elected to the Lok Sabha from Tamil Nadu's Sivaganga and there is a special court to deal with cases related to lawmakers.
The Enforcement Directorate (ED) and the CBI are probing how Karti Chidambaram managed to get clearance for INX Media from the Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) in 2007 when his father was Minister.
The probe so far showed that for the FIPB approval, INX Media directors Peter and Indrani Mukerjea met P Chidambaram to ensure there was no hold-up or delay in their application.