Supreme Court allows Karti Chidambaram to travel abroad but warns not to play with law

Karti Chidambaram and his father P Chidambaram are accused in the case.

Media reports quoted Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi saying: "You can go wherever you want to, you can do whatever you want but don't play around with the law. If there is an iota of non-cooperation, we will come down heavily." Karti also has to deposit Rs. 10 crore with the Supreme Court as a condition for his travels outside the country.

Reports said he has been asked to appear before the Enforcement Directorate on certain dates in March.

Media reports said Karti Chidambaram had sought permission from the Supreme Court to travel to Europe in February and March for a tennis tournament.

Earlier in November, the Supreme Court had refused to hear  Karti's request to travel abroad on an urgent basis.

Karti's lawyer had requested the top court for an urgent hearing.

The lawyer had said Karti has a plan to travel to Italy, Austria and the UK on Nov 3 and he needed the court's permission.

Every time Karti has to travel abroad, he will have to take the apex court's permission.

Karti is an accused in an alleged Aircel-Maxis scam case. The CBI had said two illegal payments were given to Karti's firms, Chess Management and Advantage Strategic, during the Aircel-Maxis deal.

The CBI has alleged that Maxis had paid Rs. 3,200 cr to take over Aircel while then Union FM Chidambaram had powers to clear only Rs. 600 cr.

However, in the file, it was shown that only Rs. 180 cr was cleared.

On Oct 25, Karti along with his father P Chidambaram have been named in a chargesheet filed by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in Rs 3,500-crore Aircel-Maxis case.

Earlier in July, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) had filed a chargesheet against the father-son duo.