INX Media case: SC changes order, to hear Chidambaram's plea today at 2 pm

New Delhi, Sep 02: The Supreme Court on Monday has withdrawn its earlier order granting Union minister P Chidambaram interim relief till Thursday. Instead the CBI will seek custody of Chidambaram for one more day and the apex court will hear the former finance minister's petition tomorrow at 2 pm.

This was after mentioning of Solicitor General Tushar Mehta that the CBI will instead seek custody for one more day. Chidambaram's legal team wasn't there.

Solicitor General Tushar Mehta had urged the court to hear Chidambaram case tomorrow. He assures the court that the CBI will seek his custody from special court and keep him.

Chidambaram on Friday told a Delhi court that the "same files were being shown to him repeatedly", and that the probe agency didn't produce any document related to 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 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 judge got irked as the former finance minister was Friday produced for the third time since his arrest on August 21 and asked as to why the agency did not seek the entire 15-day of police custody when he was produced for the first time.

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 the corruption cases like the one in which Chidambaram is booked is 15 days.

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.

It may be recalled that CBI had first sought 5-day custody of Chidambaram when he was produced before the court for the first time on August 22 and the probe agency made the same request when he was brought for the second time on August 26 and the CBI then once again sought five custody of the senior Congress leader when he was produced before the court for the third time on Friday.

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 CBI's FIR, a case of money laundering was filed against Chidambaram by the Enforcement Directorate (ED).