In another shock to the former Union Finance Minister P Chidambaram, Supreme Court rejected to entertain his plea against the CBI probe in the alleged INX media case. His petition challenging the CBI custody was not listed for a hearing in the Supreme court.
The Court also that his plea against the CBI is now “infructuous” (unnecessary) as he is already in the custody of the CBI. Therefore, the court has asked Chidambaram to try for regular bail before an appropriate court.
In today’s hearing, P Chidambaram has accused that the investigative agencies have leaked the affidavits of the probe. His lawyer Kapil Sibal complained about ED’s affidavit being leaked, without having been filed. To this, Tushar Mehta had denied the leakage of information from the government’s side.
Solicitor General Tushar Mehta says ED did not leak the affidavit, says it was leaked after it was served to Chidambaram’s lawyers. https://t.co/XUPnPNPfAn
— ANI (@ANI) August 26, 2019
On leaked documents, Kapil Sibal said “It can’t be that they give or show any document to the court and I am not entitled to look into it. They leak it to media. They leaked the ED affidavit to the media.”
The hearing has turned into a witty battle of legal accusations and political charges. Kapil Sibal has accused the investigating agency of asking only one question- whether he maintains a bank account in Britain. Kapil Sibal also slammed the agencies of fixating only on one question of a Twitter account.
Kapil Sibal in Supreme Court: CBI asking Chidambaram, do you have Twitter account?.. What kind of questions are being asked? 26 hours of examination and nothing (documents) has been put to him.
— ANI (@ANI) August 26, 2019
On August 22, Judge Kuhar had remanded the senior Congress leader to CBI custody till Monday. Supreme Court had also granted interim protection and granted him the anticipatory bail in Enforcement Directorate investigation.
P Chidambaram was arrested by CBI (Central Bureau of Investigation) from his residence last week.
WHAT IS INX MEDIA CASE?