india

Updated: Aug 21, 2019 15:33 IST

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday accused the government of using the Enforcement Directorate and the CBI to “character assassinate” former Union finance minister P Chidambaram. “Modi’s govt is using the ED and CBI to character assassinate Mr Chidambaram. I strongly condemn this disgraceful misuse of power,” Rahul Gandhi wrote on micro-blogging site Twitter. His sister and Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi too tweeted in support of Chidambaram, saying he was being “shamefully hunted down”.

A team of top lawyers filed a special leave petition in the Supreme Court on Wednesday morning seeking interim relief after the Delhi high court denied his anticipatory bail plea in the INX Media case on Tuesday.

Veteran Congress leader and Chidambaram’s lawyer Kapil Sibal had initially approached the court of Justice N V Ramana who said that Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi would hear the case.

The former finance minister had approached the apex court seeking protection from arrest hours after his anticipatory bail plea was rejected by the Delhi high court on Tuesday.

On Tuesday night, the CBI had issued a notice to Chidambaram asking him to appear before the investigation officer “within two hours”. A team of CBI officers visited his Jor Bagh residence but left after confirming that the former minister was not present there.

The CBI notice had asked Chidambaram to appear before R Parthasarthy, CBI deputy SP, who is investigating the case to record his statement under Section 161 of the CrPC. The notice, reportedly, has also been sent to his email ID.

The senior Congress leader faces arrest in the INX Media case, which pertains to the alleged irregularities in the Foreign Investment Promotion Board clearance to the media group for receiving overseas funds to the tune of Rs 307 crore at a time when

Chidambaram was the Union finance minister. The CBI had registered an FIR on May 15, 2017, alleging irregularities in the FIPB clearance and the Enforcement Directorate lodged a money laundering case a year later.