The Supreme Court extended the interim protection against arrest to Karti Chidambaram till April 2.

The order came after the Enforcement Directorate (ED) sought an authoritative pronouncement from the top court in view of several conflicting orders of different high courts on the probe agency's power of arrest under section 19 of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).

A bench comprising of Chief Justice Dipak Misra and Justices A M Khanwilkar and D Y Chandrachud was told by Additional Solicitor General Tushar Mehta that the ED has been given the power of arrest under the statute, keeping in mind the several international conventions underlining the need to curb money laundering generated from drugs smuggling, terror financing and black money routing.

He added that the advent of e-commerce has made investigation into money laundering more difficult as ill-gotten wealth have been transferred to all corners of the world very conveniently after the globalisation.

On March 15, the top court had given the interim relief to Karti in the INX media money laundering case and said it would clear the confusion which has crept in due to the divergent views of different high courts on ED's power to arrest.