A “monstrous injustice” has been done to former Union Minister P. Chidambaram by sending him to jail despite the fact that there is no material evidence against him in the INX Media case other than the statement of the “murder accused” (Indrani and Peter Mukherjea), N. Ram, Chairman, THG Publications Pvt. Ltd. said in Chennai on Sunday.
“The only intention behind those who have orchestrated this [arrest] and unfortunately the highest courts of the land have fallen victim to this,is to deny him liberty as long as possible. That’s the whole intention,” Mr. Ram said at a meeting of the Tamil Nadu Congress Committee (TNCC) to condemn the arrest of the former Union Finance Minister.
He said the response of the higher judiciary, especially the Delhi High Court, had to be sharply criticised. “They have virtually adopted the case of the prosecution. For seven months, judgment was reserved. Just before the judge retired, the judgment came out depriving Chidambaram of any opportunity to appeal,” he said, adding that lawyers then went to the Supreme Court.
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“There are many factual mistakes in the order by Justices Banumathi and Bopanna rejecting bail. For example, they say P. Chidambaram’s assets have been confiscated — [this is] completely wrong,” Mr. Ram said adding that there is a need to quickly move a review petition before the same Bench or file a curative petition that will go before five judges.
“There is no basis at all except the statement by the two murder accused….there was no danger of documents being suppressed or tampered with, no threat to any of the witnesses.... It is a great shame that justice was not delivered in this case,” Mr. Ram said.
Congress MP, K. Jayakumar alleged that Mr. Chidambaram was being targeted by the BJP. Senior Congress leader Peter Alphonse termed it a “political fight, and not a legal fight”.
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“A government which doesn’t take any action on big cases involving their party men, is only pursuing cases against a person who has done no wrong, is a renowned politician,” he said.
Suba Veerapandian, president, Dravidar Iyakka Thamizhar Peravai said a psychological war was being unleashed to make it appear that the Congress cannot ever rise back.