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Updated: Aug 21, 2019 12:40 IST

Former Union minister P Chidambaram’s lawyer Arshdeep Singh Khurana has written to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in response to the notice that the investigative agency had put up outside the Congress leader’s residence on Tuesday evening.

“I am instructed to state that your notice fails to mention the provision of law under which my client has been issued a notice to appear within two hours,” Khurana wrote in his letter, according to news agency ANI.

“My client is exercising the rights available to him in law and had approached the Supreme Court on August 20, seeking urgent relief in respect of the order dismissing his anticipatory bail,” the lawyer said.

On Tuesday, a few hours after the Delhi High Court had rejected Chidambaram’s plea for anticipatory bail in the INX Media case, the CBI issued a notice asking him to appear before the investigation officer “within two hours”.

P Chidambaram INX Media: Follow Live Updates

A team of CBI officers visited his Jor Bagh residence but left after confirming that the former minister was not present there.

Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra on Wednesday tweeted in support to Chidambaram, saying he was being “shamefully hunted down”.

“An extremely qualified and respected member of the Rajya Sabha, @PChidambaram_IN ji has served our nation with loyalty for decades including as Finance Minister & Home Minister,” Priyanka Gandhi said in a two-part tweet.

“He unhesitatingly speaks truth to power and exposes the failures of this government, but the truth is inconvenient to cowards so he is being shamefully hunted down. We stand by him and will continue to fight for the truth no matter what the consequences are,” she said.

An extremely qualified and respected member of the Rajya Sabha, @PChidambaram_IN ji has served our nation with loyalty for decades including as Finance Minister & Home Minister. He unhesitatingly speaks truth to power and exposes the failures of this government,

1/2 — Priyanka Gandhi Vadra (@priyankagandhi) August 21, 2019

but the truth is inconvenient to cowards so he is being shamefully hunted down. We stand by him and will continue to fight for the truth no matter what the consequences are.

2/2 — Priyanka Gandhi Vadra (@priyankagandhi) August 21, 2019

The CBI notice has 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.

According to his lawyer, the former Union minister has been permitted by the Supreme Court to mention the urgent Special Leave Petition against the order before the court at 10:30 am on Wednesday. In his letter, Khurana wrote, “I, therefore, request you not to take any coercive action against my client till then and await the hearing at 10:30 am.”

Top Congress leaders who are also lawyers by profession, Abhishek Singhvi, Kapil Sibal and Salman Khurshid — have geared up for a legal battle at the Supreme Court on Wednesday to prevent Chidambaram’s arrest in connection with the INX Media case.