Former Finance Minister P. Chidambaram Sent to Tihar Jail

Former Union Minister P. Chidambaram was sent to Delhi’s Tihar jail after a CBI court ordered judicial custody for him for the next two weeks in a corruption investigation. 74-year-old Chidambaram will now be in ‘Jail No 7’ in Asia’s biggest prison complex till September 19. 

Soon after the ruling by the court, the senior Congress leader’s lawyer and party colleague Kapil Sibal requested a separate cell for him, a cot, a toilet and medicines with western facilities, which were granted to him as he has Z-security.  

The Supreme Court, while refusing to grant Chidambaram protection from arrest by Enforcement Directorate, said, “Anticipatory bail has to be exercised sparingly in cases of economic offences. Considering the facts and circumstances, this is not a fit case to grant anticipatory bail”.

The court also said that the investigating agency should be given sufficient freedom to conduct its probe and thus granting anticipatory bail at this stage would hamper the investigation.

In the court the senior Congress leader also said he is ready to surrender before the Enforcement Directorate, “I am willing to go to Enforcement Directorate custody if they want, but why to judicial custody? Either I surrender, let Enforcement Directorate take custody, I don’t have a problem”, Chidambaram had said. 

If the Enforcement Directorate had arrested him, Chidambaram would have gone to a police lock-up in the heart of Delhi. But the CBI in the court said, “The accused is a powerful and influential person, so he should be sent to judicial custody”. His lawyer and Party colleague Kapil Sibal countered that there had been no case of tampering or influencing evidence till now.

After the hearing as he was led out, the former Finance Minister said, “I am only worried about the economy”.

Since his arrest on August 21, Chidambaram had been in the CBI custody and was put up in a guest room on the ground floor of the agency’s headquarter. In the year 2011, as the then union home minister he had participated in the inauguration of the new Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) headquarters in Delhi’s Lodhi Road area. 

The Enforcement Directorate wants the custody of Chidambaram for investigations into the money-laundering charge against him in the case involving INX Media. The CBI accuses former union minister Chidambaram of misusing his position as Finance Minister of the country in 2007 as he facilitated a huge infusion of foreign funds into the INX Media at the instance of his son Karti Chidambaram.

Chidambaram and his son Karti, who is a Member of Parliament were named by INX Media co-founders Peter Mukerjea and Indrani Mukerjea. Both of them are presently serving their jail term in Mumbai in connection with the murder of Indrani’s daughter Sheena Bora.

Karti Chidambaram was arrested in the year 2018 and released after 23 days, for his role in securing the foreign funds, for which he has allegedly received kickbacks.

Meanwhile, P. Chidambaram has managed to get pre-arrest bail in another case, the Rs.3, 500-crore Aircel-Maxis deal involving a clearance of $800 million of foreign investment in the year 2006, allegedly in exchange of kickbacks.