Delhi High Court stays trial in INX Media case

By LE Staff

New Delhi, May 18: The Delhi High Court today stayed trial court proceedings in the CBI’s INX Media corruption case involving Congress leader P. Chidambaram and his son Karti Chidambaram.

The court passed the order after hearing a petition filed by the CBI against a trial court directing it to produce and also supply to the accused persons all the documents collected or statements recorded by it during the course of the investigation. The trial court in the order passed on March 5 also permitted the accused to conduct inspections of the record lying in Malkhana of the CBI, The Indian Express reported.

Justice Suresh Kumar Kait also sought response from Mr. Chidambaram and other accused in the case on the investigating agency’s plea challenging the March 5 order of the trial court, The Hindu reported.

The case relates to a First Information Report (FIR) registered by the CBI on May 15, 2017, against alleged irregularities in the Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) clearance provided to INX Media for receiving overseas funds to the tune of ₹305 crore in 2007, when Mr. Chidambaram was the Finance Minister.

The Enforcement Directorate is also investigating the alleged offence of money laundering arising out of the FIR.

In its plea, the CBI argued that there is neither any provision in CrPC which “casts a duty upon the investigating agency to forward to court documents on which it does not rely upon” nor is there any provision which empowers the Magistrate to allow the accused to inspect the documents which are neither filed in court nor relied upon by the prosecution.

The central agency also has contended that the accused cannot claim an “indefeasible right” to claim every document of the police file or even the portions which are permitted to be excluded from the documents annexed to the chargesheet. “CBI has filed in court a list of documents along with the documents it relies upon and has supplied copies thereof to the respondents/accused,” it has told the HC in its petition.

The court cannot assist the accused in search of a plausible defence, the CBI has further argued. “It is the basic principle of criminal law that thought it is the duty of the prosecution to prove its case, however, the accused is supposed to either give the true version before the Court or remain silent. An accused cannot build a false or imaginary defence, after examining the documents,” reads the petition.