P Chidambaram moves plea in SC seeking bail in INX Media case

NEW DELHI: Former Union Minister and Congress leader P Chidambaram on Thursday moved a fresh plea in the Supreme Court seeking regular bail in the INX Media alleged corruption case, which is being probed by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).

His counsel and senior advocate Kapil Sibal mentioned the matter before the Bench of Justice NV Ramana, Sanjiv Khanna and Krishna Murari for urgent hearing. 

The bench then directed it to be placed before Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi for listing.

According to news agency ANI, Chidambaram's plea has to be listed on Friday as the Court will be closed the entire next week. 

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The Delhi High Court had dismissed his bail plea on September 30 owing to the likelihood of his influencing witnesses. Chidambaram had then approached the Supreme Court seeking bail.

The INX Media case pertains to the alleged irregularities in the Foreign Investment Promotion Board clearance to INX Media at the time when P Chidambaram was the Finance Minister.

It is the case of the CBI and the Enforcement Directorate (ED) that P Chidambaram and his son Karti Chidambaram received illegal gratification from INX Media owners Peter and Indrani Mukherjea for the clearance.

CBI had arrested P Chidambaram on August 21 after his anticipatory bail plea in the case was rejected by the High Court and the appeal against the same was pending before the Supreme Court. The anticipatory bail plea in the CBI case was later dismissed by the Supreme Court on the grounds that it had been rendered infructuous.

Chidambaram, who spent a fortnight in police custody after his arrest, was thereafter remanded to judicial custody. His plea for regular bail was rejected by the Special CBI Judge sitting at the Rouse Avenue Court Complex in Delhi. Later, bail was denied by the Delhi High Court as well. The Judicial remand of the former Union Minister is scheduled to end on October 3.

There is also a separate case registered by the ED against Chidambaram in the INX media case, in which the senior Congress leader has been denied anticipatory bail by the Supreme Court.