NEW DELHI: Jailed Congress leader and former Union minister P Chidambaram on Wednesday moved Delhi high court seeking bail in the INX Media case and also challenged the trial court’s order to send him to Tihar jail in judicial custody till September 19. The 73-year old Congress veteran was arrested by the CBI on August 21.

In his plea, Chidambaram has alleged that the case against him is “political vendetta” and the investigation agency is “acting on the behest of the Centre” since he is a political opponent of the government in power.

“It is the petitioner’s case that the instant criminal proceeding is a mala fide and is borne out of political vendetta and the investigation agency is acting at the behest of the Centre which wants to malign the untainted and unimpeachable reputation of the petitioner,” Chidambaram has said in his plea that includes one for regular bail and another challenging the remand order. He sought bail on health grounds, saying he is taking medication.

The plea alleges that the charges by the probe agencies (the CBI and the enforcement directorate ) do not even fulfill the basic requirement of it being an economic offence, as there was no loss to the exchequer nor was it a bank fraud. It argues that no public funds were involved in the case (INX Media case) and no evidence of even siphoning off money out of the country, or defrauding depositors or stealing money from a company. “In fact, in the present case, Rs 305 crore has come into INX Media (i.e. the investee company) as FDI, well within the approval percentage of 46.21% of equity. Out of this Rs 305 crore, Rs26 crore was invested in an Indian subsidiary company (namely INX News)”, the petition submits, arguing that he is being unfairly prosecuted without evidence.

Chidambaram has also argued that the Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) was chaired by the secretary-economic affairs and included four other secretaries (industry, commerce, external affairs and overseas Indian affairs) and the secretary of the administrative ministry concerned. He, as the minister concerned, only approved the file on the recommendations of the FIPB and secretary-economic affairs.

The plea claims that while in CBI custody, Chidambaram was confronted with the then undersecretary R Prasad, OSD P K Bagga, director Prabodh Saxena, joint secretary Anup Pujari and additional secretary Sindhushree Khullar, all of whom were involved in processing the FIPB file.

“All of the aforesaid persons have affirmed the correctness of the approval granted to INX Media. Neither of them has alleged any illegality in the approval. Further, neither of them has alleged that the petitioner (Chidambaram) had given them any directions regarding processing of the file pertaining to INX Media,” the petition maintains.

It says the former minister cannot tamper with evidence as all the files are with the government and agencies.

The trial court had earlier allowed the CBI to take Chidambaram in custody observing that the allegations against the former central minister were serious and the agency apprehended that because of the status and position enjoyed by the accused, investigation may be hampered.

The court had also issued directions on keeping Chidambaram in a separate cell in Tihar jail as he was a Z-security protectee.

