INX Media: SC to continue hearing Chidambaram’s plea today

New Delhi, Aug 27: The Supreme Court will continue hearing a plea by former finance minister, who had sought protection from arrest by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in connection with the INX Media case.

On Monday, the court had extended protection to Chidambaram from being arrested by the ED.

The earlier order of interim protection has been extended. The court will continue hearing the matter tomorrow in the afternoon.

Earlier, Senior advocate Kapil Sibal said that the Delhi High Court judgment was a word to word copy of a secret note given by the probe agency.

This was countered by Solicitor General Tushar Mehta who said that the contents were taken from the records of the case

Sibal sought to know how conclusions could be drawn without an affidavit being filed.

After having being questioned for over 26 hours, the only question that the CBI has asked P Chidambaram is whether he maintains a bank account in Britain, senior Sibal told the Supreme Court.

Earlier the court had rejected as infructuous, a petition filed by Chidambaram in which he challenged the decision of the Delhi High Court which rejected his anticipatory bail.

The court went on to hear a petition filed by the former union minister seeking protection from arrest from the Enforcement Directorate. On the last date of hearing the court had granted protection from arrest by the ED.

This is a media trial, Sibal said. He went on to say that information is leaked in the media and remand is automatically extended in the CBI court. When Solicitor General Tushar Mehta said that his remand had not been extended, Sibal said that he has been in this profession for years. We all know how this works, he said.

When proceedings resumed post launch, Sibal said that it is not just one account that Chidambaram was asked about. He was also about another account, his Twitter account.