No interim relief to Chidambaram in INX Media case

The Supreme Court bench headed by Justice N. V. Ramana, on Wednesday refused to grant interim relief from arrest to former Finance Minister P. Chidambaram and referred his matter to Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi for urgent hearing on his anticipatory bail plea in the INX media case.

Solicitor General Tushar Mehta told the top court that this is a case of monumental money laundering.

At this, Chidambaram's advocate and Senior Counsel Kapil Sibal contested that at 2 a.m. a notice was pasted in the former minister's residence.

The bench said: "I am sending the file to Chief Justice for urgent hearing."

Sibal responded that on Tuesday they did approach the Chief Justice, but could not get urgent hearing on the matter.

Sibal also informed the court that the documents related to the case is ready for urgent hearing in the matter.

Chidambaram has challenged the Delhi High Court order which rejected his anticipatory bail plea on Tuesday.

On January 25, the Delhi High Court had reserved order on Chidambaram's bail plea in the case being probed by the Enforcement Directorate and the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).

The investigating agencies had opposed Chidambaram's bail plea, saying that custodial interrogation of the former Finance Minister was necessary as he was evasive and had given false information during his questioning.

The ED and the CBI are probing how his son, Karti Chidambaram, managed to get clearance from the Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) in 2007 when his father was the Finance Minister.

Karti Chidambaram was arrested on February 28, 2018 by the CBI for allegedly accepting money to facilitate the FIPB clearance to INX Media. He was later granted bail.

His chartered accountant S. Bhaskararaman was also arrested and released on bail later.

( With inputs from IANS )