CBI Arrests Former Finance Minister P. Chidambaram in INX Media Case
New Delhi: The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has taken former finance minister P. Chidambaram into custody in connection with the controversial INX Media case.
The investigative agency, along with the Enforcement Directorate (ED), arrested the senior Congress leader at his Jor Bagh residence in New Delhi on Wednesday night.
According to media reports, Chidambaram will be kept at the CBI headquarters overnight for questioning and will likely be produced at the CBI special court at Rouse Avenue on Thursday.
The arrest happened barely an hour after he held a press conference at the Congress headquarters, where he declared that he was not “running away from justice” and that he had not been accused of any offence in the INX media case.
Chidambaram has been in the spotlight since Tuesday, after the Delhi high court denied his anticipatory bail application and the CBI paid a visit to his Jor Bagh residence last night.
According to records, doctors from the Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital conducted a medical examination on Chidambaram at the CBI headquarters after his arrest.
Chidambaram was kept in the suit No 5 of the CBI guest house, they said. He will be produced before a special CBI court on Thursday, where the agency will seek his remand.
On Wednesday, Chidambaram’s legal team moved the Supreme Court for relief, but could not secure an urgent hearing. The apex court had listed the anticipatory bail hearing for August 23 (Friday), but it now appears that with his arrest, the former finance minister will likely to have apply for regular bail before a trial court.
In remarks made to IndiaToday, however, senior advocate and Congress leader Abhishek Manu Singhvi noted that all legal options will be considered and that they have not withdrawn their anticipatory bail petition from the Supreme Court.
At his press conference on Wednesday night, Chidambaram denied any wrong-doing and said that he was not running away from justice.
“There is a widespread impression that grave offences have been committed and that my son and I have committed those offences. Nothing can be further from the truth, these are lies spread by pathological liars,” Chidambaram said in a press conference on Wednesday night, seemingly in response to several media reports that he had gone “missing”.
According to the CBI’s FIR, which was filed in May 2016, INX Media Ltd engaged in several foreign direct investment (FDI) violations during Chidambaram’s time as finance minister.
The agency has alleged that the media company, in order to get out of trouble, then “entered into a criminal conspiracy with Shri Karthi P. Chidambaram, son of P Chidambaram, the-then Finance Minister”.
Karthi was allegedly able to help by “influencing the public servants of the FIPB unit of Ministry of Finance by virtue of his relationship with the Finance Minister”.
Both the Chidambarams have denied the allegations, with the former finance minister saying that the FIR does not impute any wrong-doing on his behalf.
“In the INX Media case, I have not been accused of any offence. Nor has anyone… in my family been accused of any offence. There has been no chargesheet filed by either the CBI or the ED before a competent court. Moreover the FIR recorded by the CBI does not impute to me any wrong-doing,” he added.
The senior Congress leader also noted that on Wednesday he was with his lawyers, “following the proceedings in the SC”.
“I was aghast that I was accused of hiding from the law. On the contrary, I was engaged in the pursuit of justice,” he added.
CBI visits residence again
Shortly after the press conference, a team of officials from both the CBI and the ED again paid a visit to the former finance minister’s residence. After a little over 30 minutes, the former finance minister was taken away by the CBI in a car to the agency’s headquarters on Lodhi Road in New Delhi.
According to media reports, before being taken to the headquarters, the former finance minister will be taken to a hospital for a medical check-up.
Source: https://thewire.in/law/chidambaram-protests-innocence-cbi-visits-residence-again
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