Former finance minister P Chidambaram being taken to the CBI custody till 30th August after hearing in Rouse ... Read More

NEW DELHI: On a day of twin setbacks for P Chidambaram in the INX Media case, a special court allowed the CBI to keep the former finance minister for four more days in its custody while the Supreme Court turned down his plea for bail.

Special CBI judge Ajay Kumar Kuhar accepted the agency’s plea for four more days of Chidambaram’s custodial interrogation after solicitor general Tushar Mehta said the investigating agency planned to confront the former finance minister with a co-accused. Mehta did not disclose the identity of the co-accused.

“Considering the submissions made by the solicitor general and the facts and circumstances of the case, I am of the view that further police custody remand of the accused P Chidambaram is justified and accordingly, the accused is remanded to further police custody till August 30, 2019,” Kuhar said while turning down pleas by Chidambaram’s legal team comprising senior advocate Kapil Sibal, Dayan Krishnan and Pramod Kumar.

Sibal said in the previous remand application, there was a mention of $5 million and not a single document was put to Chidambaram on this during four days of interrogation.

Mehta said letters rogatory were sent to five countries and the investigators were trying to link the transactions of the accused related with the case. “There is prima facie evidence to link the accused with $5 million. We are awaiting response on LRs from the five countries,” he told the court.

Earlier in the day, Chidambaram suffered disappointment in the SC which dismissed his anticipatory bail plea in the CBI case in the INX Media matter, saying the issue had become infructuous after his arrest. However, the apex court extended his interim protection in the ED case in the same matter till Tuesday.

Appearing for Chidambaram in SC, senior advocates Sibal and A M Singhvi argued before Justices R Banumathi and A S Bopanna that the former minister’s right to be heard was denied due to delay in listing of his case and urged the court to intervene. They contended that the anticipatory bail plea would have become infructuous if the petition was filed after his arrest. It was filed at “rocket speed” on the same day of the Delhi high court verdict, Singhvi said.

“The CBI and the ED had no business to take action against him as his petition was pending in the SC. I moved the apex court at rocket speed and but petition was not heard on time. My right to life and personal liberty cannot be denied. How can an act of the court harm the rights of a person? The agencies should not have taken action when the petition was pending,” Singhvi said.

Sibal said Chidambaram’s reputation was being “destroyed” by the probe agencies on a daily basis. “The moment you arrest someone, the public perception is that he is guilty. It destroys a man. My reputation is being destroyed on a daily basis by the CBI and ED and I have no remedy to protect myself,” he said. But the court was not convinced and dismissed the plea.

The lawyers then started arguing in the ED case and contended that there was no need for custodial interrogation as most of the evidence in the case was documentary and the agency could start prosecution without interrogating Chidambaram. Sibal claimed that no serious questioning took place in the last five days in CBI custody and even earlier when the former minister had appeared before the ED three times.

The lawyer said he had instruction from his client to say that only one relevant question about a bank account in UK was asked which he denied. He pleaded that the SC should ask the ED to place the transcript of Chidambaram’s questioning.

Comparing the Delhi HC verdict and a note which was handed over to the HC in a sealed envelop by the agency, Sibal told the bench that the HC judge simply did a “copy-paste” job and did not apply his mind in deciding the case. He said that even the commas and full stops were copied from the note and the HC erred in blindly relying upon the unverified note without giving them the opportunity to counter the allegations.

Solicitor general Tushar Mehta told the bench that the HC had passed the order after going through the probe report. As the proceedings remained inconclusive, the bench extended interim protection to Chidambaram till Tuesday when the solicitor general will continue his arguments.



In Video: INX Media case: CBI gets Chidambaram's custody till August 30