INX Media case: Chidambaram to spend 74th birthday in jail

New Delhi, Sep 12: Former finance minister P Chidambaram will spend his 74th birthday in Tihar Jail as the Delhi High Court Thursday directed CBI to file its status report on his bail plea in the INX Media corruption case within a week.

Chidambaram, who is in judicial custody till September 19 in the case, will turn 74 on September 16 and the high court has fixed September 23 for further hearing his bail plea. Chidambaram will be produced before the trial court in the case on September 19.

Chidambaram, who was the Union home minister and the finance minister during the UPA rule from 2004 to 2014, was arrested by the CBI on August 21 from his Jor Bagh residence.

The CBI had registered an FIR on May 15, 2017, alleging irregularities in the Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) clearance granted to the INX Media group for receiving overseas funds of Rs 305 crore in 2007 during Chidambaram's tenure as the finance minister.

Thereafter, the ED lodged a money laundering case in this regard in 2017.