Supreme Court to hear Chidambaram's plea today
The Supreme Court Monday extended the CBI custody of Former Finance Minister P Chidambaram till Thursday (September 5). The order by the top court came while it was hearing Chidambaram's plea challenging the trial court's order to remand him to CBI's custody.
Earlier on Friday, Chidambaram had told a Delhi court the "same files were being shown to him repeatedly" and that the probe agency didn't produce any document related to the money trail.
"They have been continuously showing me three files. Even today the same files were repeatedly shown to me for more than 2.5 hours," said Chidambaram, who was on Friday produced before Special CBI Judge Ajay Kumar Kuhar.
The court had extended Chidambaram's CBI custody in the INX Media case till September 2.
While the CBI succeeded in securing three more days of custodial interrogation of P Chidambaram, a Delhi court Friday took strong objection to its seeking police custody in part manner and even said the ground for it was "vague".
The CBI had sought Chidambaram's 5-day custody on the first day of his production in the court and the similar request was made when he was brought for the second time on August 26, and so was the case today when another 5-day extension was sought, the court noted.
According to the law, the maximum period of police custody in corruption cases like the one in which Chidambaram is booked is 15 days.
During the proceedings, the judge asked the CBI as to why it required five more days for interrogating Chidambaram and sought a case diary from the agency.
When the Additional Solicitor General KM Natraj said there are voluminous documents and Chidambaram needs to be confronted with them, the judge said the CBI should have asked for custodial interrogation of Chidambaram for 14 days on the very first day of his production if that was the case.
The court, however, extended Chidambaram's custody till Monday after his counsel informed the court about an agreement between the accused and the CBI before the SC, by which Chidambaram's counsel had agreed for the extension of his custody till September 2, when the apex court will again hear the INX Media matter.
Chidambaram was first produced before the court on August 22 and the CBI had sought his five day custody. The court had granted four day custodial interrogation.
The CBI had, in 2017, registered a case alleging financial irregularities, to the tune of Rs 305 crore, in the Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) clearance given to INX Media in 2007 when Chidambaram was Union Finance Minister.
Following the FIR filed by the CBI, the Enforcement Directorate had filed a case of money laundering against him.
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