The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has asked the Supreme Court to review its judgment granting regular bail to former Union Finance Minister P. Chidambaram in the case registered by the agency in the INX Media case.
A three-judge Bench led by Justice R. Banumathi had granted Mr. Chidambaram bail on October 22. He is currently in remand with the ED in the INX Media case.
The review petitions will be heard by the same Bench, probably in chambers.
The CBI said the bail judgment of the apex court contained errors as it did not take into account the material placed on record to prove that Mr. Chidambaram, if allowed bail, would influence the witnesses in the case.
On the allegation that Mr. Chidambaram would tamper with evidence if released on bail, the Supreme Court had in its October 22 judgment said the case was based on documents already in the custody of the prosecuting agency. Hence, there was no chance of any tinkering with evidence.
The court had referred to how the CBI had alleged in the High Court that Mr. Chidambaram and his son, Karti, had approached two material witnesses for their silence.
The allegation was part of a sealed cover note handed over to the High Court. The apex court had agreed that this allegation surfaced only when the former Minister’s bail came up.
“CBI has no direct evidence against the appellant regarding the allegation of appellant directly or indirectly influencing the witnesses... There are no details as to the form of approach of those two witnesses either SMS, e-mail, letter or telephonic calls and the persons who have approached the material witnesses. Details are also not available as to when, where and how those witnesses were approached,” the apex court had observed in the judgment.
The three-judge Bench led by Justice Banumathi had refused to buy the argument made by Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, for the CBI, that, across board, accused in economic offences should be treated as a “flight risk” and denied bail.
