india

Updated: Oct 25, 2019 04:10 IST

A Delhi court on Thursday extended former Union minister P Chidambaram’s remand in the Enforcement Directorate (ED)’s custody until October 30 in connection with alleged money laundering related to the INX media case that the agency is probing.

Special judge Ajay Kumar Kuhar extended the custody even as Chidambaram’s lawyer, Kapil Sibal, told the court that his client is seriously ill and has been suffering from acute stomach pain. Sibal said that his client was taken to All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) twice. He added Chidambaram should be taken to Hyderabad to see the doctor, who knows his medical history, since the doctors in Delhi have not been able to diagnose the problem. Kuhar said Chidambaram, who was produced in the court at the end of his seven-day custody after ED arrested on October 16, should be taken to the AIIMS in case of any medical complications.

Solicitor General (SG) Tushar Mehta told the court that Chidambaram was confronted with documentary evidence including email exchanges for laundering the proceeds of crime. He alleged Chidambaram answered 65 questions on the first day. Mehta added that the pace “substantially” reduced when he was confronted with the documents.

Mehta told the court that “glaring discrepancies” have been found in his earlier statements and those which have been recorded in the last seven days. He said further remand of seven days is required for confronting Chidambaram with the witnesses and co-conspirators.

Mehta opposed an oral request for granting interim bail to Chidambaram for medical treatment in Hyderabad. “Can any other accused be sent to the medical institutions of their own choice? Let’s not get into these emotive arguments and see the material on record,” Mehta said. Sibal told the court that ED does not have any new material with which they can confront the accused.

The judge questioned the ED as to what it had done over the last seven days. “You did not confront him with the witnesses because you were recording the statements. Were you recording the statement for five days……If the agency continues with such pace, then the investigation would not be completed even in 50 days,.”