The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and Enforcement Directorate (ED) told the Delhi High Court on Friday that they required custodial interrogation of former finance minister and Congress leader P. Chidambaram in the INX Media case.
Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for the agencies, asked the High Court to allow the probe agencies to exercise their “statutory right to arrest” and interrogate Mr. Chidambaram in custody.
The High Court, which was hearing Mr. Chidambaram’s plea seeking anticipatory bail in the case, reserved its order and said the interim protection from arrest will continue till further decision.
Custodial interrogation
“He (Chidambaram) is evasive and the answers are factually incorrect. For ends of justice, he needs to be examined in custody,” Mr Mehta said. The probe agencies sought custodial interrogation of Chidambaram on the ground that he did not disclose the material that ought to be in his knowledge during questioning.
The CBI had registered a FIR on May 15, 2017 against alleged irregularities in the Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) clearance to INX Media for receiving overseas funds to the tune of ₹305 crore in 2007 when Mr. Chidambaram was finance minister.
Bail opposed
During the hearing, the Solicitor General vehemently opposed the former Union Minister’s anticipatory bail plea.
Senior advocate Kapil Sibal, appearing for Mr. Chidambaram, argued that his client was not even named as an accused in the FIR and had been called for questioning by the CBI only once in June 2018.
On July 25 last year, the High Court had granted interim protection to Mr. Chidambaram from arrest and directed the ED not to take any coercive step till August 1. The Court has since extended its order from time to time. It had also directed Mr. Chidambaram to cooperate with the investigating agencies.
Mr. Chidambaram in his plea said though no summons had ever been served to him by the ED in this case, he feared an arrest in view of the summons issued to him by the CBI, which is investigating the case.
The Solicitor General contended that the companies in which money was transferred are directly or indirectly controlled by Mr. Chidambaram’s son, Karti. He said the probe agencies have reason to believe that the FIPB approval was granted to INX Media on his son’s intervention.
