INX Media Case: SC grants bail to Chidambaram, to walk out of Tihar jail

New Delhi, Dec 04: The Supreme Court on Wednesday granted bail to Congress leader P Chidambaram in the INX Media money laundering case.

While granting bail to Chidambaram, the Supreme Court said, though it is of the view economic offences are grave, bail is the rule and jail the exception.

SC observed that bail can be granted if the presence of the accused can be vouched for.

The senior Congress leader has been in custody for 105 days since his dramatic arrest by a team of Central Bureau of Investigation officers late on August 21.

The three-judge bench, headed by Justice R Banumathi, has asked Chidambaram to furnish a bail bond of Rs 2 lakhs along with 2 sureties of the same amount. Chidambaram can not travel abroad without the Court's permission.

The former Union minister also cannot make public statements or press interviews with regard to the case.

"Phew, at last after 106 days," tweeted Karti Chidambaram, with a smiley, soon after the verdict.

The former union minister was arrested by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on August 21 in the money laundering case and was granted bail by the Supreme Court on October 22.

While ED arrested him on October 16 and is presently in judicial custody till November 27 under the order of a trial court.

What is INX Media case?

In the month of March 2007, the INX Media had approached the finance ministry for issuing 14.98 lakh equity shares and 31.22 lakh convertible non-cumulative redeemable preference shares. Each share was to be priced at Rs 10 a piece, owned by three non-resident investors under the FDI route.

The financial intelligence unit of the finance ministry, however, in January 2008 found that there was an anomaly in the money flow into INX Media from three firms based in Mauritius. The case was then sent to the Enforcement Directorate, which probed the fund flow.

The matter was then referred to the CBI, following which an FIR was registered and the case in May 2017 and this came to be known as the INX Media case. The ED, on the other hand, probed the money laundering aspect into this case.