After Income Tax objection, Madras HC Judge Anita Sumanth recuses SELF from Karti’s case. IT points out that earlier she was Karti firm’s Advocate

In a bizarre incident, the Income Tax (IT) department raised objections against Justice Anita Sumanth hearing the case involving tainted former Finance Minister P Chidambaram’s son Karti as the judge earlier represented Karti’s controversial firm Advantage Strategic Consulting as an advocate. The advocate of Income Tax on Monday pointed it out to the Madras High Court Judge Anita Sumanth that it was not fair that she hears the case of Karti as she represented Karti’s company as an Advocate, before becoming a judge. After hearing the objection from the Income Tax counsel, Justice Anita Sumanth agreed to recuse herself from the case.

Justice Anita Sumanth immediately agreed to ask the Madras High Court Chief Justice to allocate the case to another Bench. Interestingly, Sumanth Raman, spouse of Anita appears in most TV channels attending debates. In many of these TV debates, Sumanth Raman can be seen supporting Chidambaram and family members in corruption cases. On many occasions, he has accused the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and the Enforcement Directorate (ED) of acting as per the instructions of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) to frame the Chidambaram family.

Earlier another bench of the Madras High Court refused to hear Karti’s frequent petitions against Income Tax to derail the cases registered under the Black Money Act[1]. The previous week, a trial court dismissed the petitions of Karti and wife against the Income Tax prosecution. Special Judge D Lingeshwaran direct Karti and wife to personally be present in Court on July 21 and cautioned that warrants would be issued if they did not appear in person[2].

During the hearing in trial court, the Income Tax Department told the court that Karti received Rs 6.38 crore in cash while his wife received Rs 1.35 core in cash for the same of the land. It was also alleged that Nalini Chidambaram (Karti’s mother) received the payment in the form of cheque while the son and his wife received cash in a land sale in Chennai seashore area.

References:

[1] Tax evasion case against Karti Chidambaram: Madras HC Judge agrees to step aside – Jan 13, 2020, SwarajyaMag

[2] Chennai: Karti Chidambaram, wife to face trial in 7 crore income tax case – Jan 8, 2020, Times of India