New Delhi/MUMBAI: The Supreme Court on Thursday reserved the judgement for September 5, on a petition filed by senior Congress leader P Chidambaram challenging the Delhi High Court’s order rejecting his anticipatory bail plea in the INX Media case being probed by the Enforcement Directorate (ED).
A bench of Justices R Banumathi and A S Bopanna also extended interim protection from arrest granted to Chidambaram till next Thursday.
The former Union minister offered before the bench to remain in the custody of CBI till Monday. The court refused to comment on it after solicitor general Tushar Mehta said that extension of remand can only be done before the CBI court.
The bench also directed the ED to place before it in a sealed cover the material which the probe agency wanted to produce for the court’s perusal.
The top court said it will decide on the question whether it should look into the documents placed before it by the ED in a sealed cover.
Chidambaram’s plea in the apex court has challenged the August 20 verdict of the Delhi High Court denying him anticipatory bail in the INX Media money laundering case lodged by the ED.
Meanwhile, Chidambaram’s arrest in the INX Media corruption and money laundering case is “good news”, Indrani Mukerjea, the prime accused in the Sheena Bora killing case, said on Thursday.
Chidambaram was arrested by the CBI on August 21 for alleged corruption in Rs 305 crore clearance given to the INX Media group when he was the finance minister.
The group, once promoted by Indrani Mukerjea and her husband Peter Mukerjea, both in jail in the case of killing the former’s daughter Sheena Bora, had allegedly made payments to a firm linked to the former finance minister’s son Karti Chidambaram, the CBI earlier claimed.
“His (Chidambaram) arrest is good news. He is now cornered from all sides,” Indrani Mukerjea told reporters when she was produced before a special CBI court to attend the trial proceedings in the Sheena Bora case.
She further said the bail granted to Karti Chidambaram, who is also an accused in the INX Media case, should be cancelled.
In July this year, she turned approver in the case against P Chidambaram and his son and recorded her confessional statement. In her statement, Mukerjea said she and her husband had met P Chidambaram at his office in Delhi’s North Block (when he was the finance minister).
She alleged that the former Union minister had asked her to help his son in his business and make overseas remittances in lieu of granting Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) approval to INX Media.
The CBI registered an FIR on May 15, 2017, alleging irregularities in the FIPB clearance granted to the INX media group for receiving overseas funds of Rs 305 crore in 2007 during P Chidambaram’s tenure as finance minister.
Thereafter, the ED also lodged a money laundering case in this regard in 2018. P Chidambaram’s son was arrested by the CBI in the case in February 2018. and was granted bail on March 23, 2018. (Agencies)
