A day after the Supreme Court granted him bail in the INX media case, former Union Finance Minister P. Chidambaram moved the Delhi High Court on Wednesday seeking bail in an alleged money laundering case arising out of the same case, which is being probed by the Enforcement Directorate (ED).
The High Court is likely to hear the bail plea on Thursday. The 74-year-old is currently in the ED custody till October 24. He was arrested by the CBI on August 21 from his residence in Delhi in the INX Media corruption case.
CBI FIR
The case relates to a First Information Report (FIR) registered by the CBI on May 15, 2017 against alleged irregularities in the Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) clearance provided to INX Media for receiving overseas funds to the tune of ₹305 crore in 2007, when Mr. Chidambaram was Finance Minister.
The ED is investigating the alleged offence of money laundering arising out of the FIR.
In the bail plea, Mr. Chidambaram has contended that the ED registered the ECIR (Enforcement Case Information Report) under Section 3 of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act solely based on the FIR registered by the CBI.
“The captioned ECIR is a reproduction of the subject FIR and the petitioner [Mr. Chidambaram] is neither named as an accused nor as a suspect therein. There is no allegation against the petitioner in the body of the captioned ECIR,” the plea said.
The petition further pointed out that while Mr. Chidambaram was in judicial custody in the FIR, it was open to the ED to interrogate him. “However, the ED chose not to do so only with the oblique motive of prolonging the pre-trial detention of the petitioner,” the plea said.
It contended that all the evidence is documentary and in the custody of investigating agencies, hence it cannot be tampered with by Mr. Chidambaram.
Suffered illness
The petition also highlighted that Mr. Chidambaram, while being lodged in judicial custody, has already suffered two bouts of illness and was put on antibiotics for five days and seven days respectively. He has lost weight from 73.5 kg to 68.5 kg, the plea said.
