The Supreme Court on Friday sought response from the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on a petition of former Union Finance Minister P. Chidambaram challenging a Delhi High Court order that rejected his plea for regular bail in the INX Media case.
The Supreme Court on Friday sought a response from the CBI to a petition of former Union Finance Minister P. Chidambaram challenging a Delhi High Court order that rejected his plea for regular bail in the INX Media case.
A Bench of Justices R. Banumathi and Hrishikesh Roy posted the case for hearing on October 15 after a brief proceeding today.
Mr. Chidambaram was represented by senior advocates Kapil Sibal and Abhishek M. Singhvi, who contested the High Court’s observation regarding influencing of witnesses. The Centre was represented by Solicitor General Tushar Mehta.
In his petition, Mr. Chidambaram said he had suffered over 40 days of incarceration, including the maximum permissible period of 15 days of CBI remand.
“His continuing incarceration is in the form of punishment as his custody can neither be taken nor is required for the purpose of investigation,” the petition said.
The High Court had denied Mr. Chidambaram bail on the basis of submissions by Mr. Mehta, which was also reflected in a ‘sealed cover’ report, that two material witnesses in the case were “approached” and told not to disclose information concerning Mr. Chidambaram and his son Karti.
The single judge Bench of the High Court had observed, “This court cannot dispute the fact that the petitioner has been a strong Finance Minister and Home Minister and presently, Member of Indian Parliament.”
Mr. Chidambaram in his plea before the top court said, “The petitioner [Mr. Chidambaram] categorically states that at no point in time, whether prior to the lodging of the FIR dated May 15, 2017 or thereafter, has he approached or influenced any of the alleged material witnesses (accused) or even attempted to do so, directly or indirectly".
The petition said the allegation was made in a sealed cover and thus did not give him an opportunity to show it was “demonstrably” false.
The trial court has extended Mr. Chidambaram’s judicial custody till October 17. It, however, allowed him to have home-cooked food.
