The Supreme Court on Wednesday issued notice to the Enforcement Directorate (ED) on an appeal filed by former Union Finance Minister P. Chidambaram for regular bail in the INX Media case.
A three-judge Bench led by Justice R. Banumathi posted the case for hearing arguments on November 26. The same Bench, comprising Justices A.S. Bopanna and Hrishikesh Roy, had granted bail to Mr. Chidambaram bail in the CBI FIR registered in the case.
The petition filed by Mr. Chidambaram contended that the Delhi High Court decision denying him bail on November 15 was “erroneous, unsustainable and liable to be set aside”. It said Mr. Chidambaram was 74 years old and had been incarcerated for approximately 89 days. The High Court had categorically held that Mr. Chidambaram was not a flight risk and the ED had not alleged so too, it said.
The investigating agencies had neither argued nor produced any material to show tampering of evidence. Besides, it argued that the alleged material in the case was already with the probe agencies, the government and the courts.
The petition countered allegations that Mr. Chidambaram would influence the witnesses in the case. It said the statements of the witnesses had been recorded and the charge sheet was almost ready to be filed in the case. The Congress leader has already been granted bail in the CBI FIR on October 22, it pointed out.
“It said the four co-accused in the predicate offence/CBI FIR, namely Karti P. Chidambaram, S. Bhaskararaman, Indrani Mukherjea and Shri Peter Mukherjea have already been granted bail. No other person except the petitioner was arrested in the predicate offence/ CBI FIR,” the petition said.
“As far as the present PMLA case is concerned, no other person apart from the petitioner and S. Bhaskararaman were arrested. Shri S. Bhaskararaman is already on regular bail vide order dated 13.03.2018. Further, Karti P. Chidambaram has been granted interim protection from arrest, which is continuing till date. No other person has been arrested in the present PMLA case,” it said.
The bail plea also argued that the police custody under ED/ PMLA case got over on October 30. “It is equally admitted that for the last 18 days until the date of filing, the petitioner has never been examined interrogated even once. Therefore, there is no purpose to keep the petitioner in judicial custody,” it contended.
