The Enforcement Directorate on Thursday said it wants an expeditious trial against Congress leader P Chidambaram in two money laundering cases, Aircel-Maxis deal and INX Media, as it has submitted the required sanction for prosecution against the former Union finance minister before a designated court. The federal probe agency had filed a chargesheet in the Aircel-Maxis case in 2018 and in the INX Media case in 2020 at the special Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) court in Delhi (Rouse Avenue) and the court took their separate cognisance in 2021. However, in November 2024, the Supreme Court directed (in the ED vs Bibhu Prasad Acharya case) that sanction for prosecution is mandatory in a PMLA chargesheet, similar to such an approval furnished while filing a chargesheet under the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC). Subsequent to this judgement, many accused charged under PMLA challenged the proceedings in multiple legal forums, leading to a delay in the trial including in these ..