NEW DELHI: Former union minister P Chidambaram was granted no immediate relief by the Supreme Court this morning after he asked for an urgent hearing on his petition against the rejection of anticipatory bail in the INX Media case. “It is a monumental magnitude of money laundering case,” the CBI told the top court, which forwarded his petition to the Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi.
In his petition, Mr Chidambaram had told the Supreme Court to take up his case for interim relief urgently, arguing that his antecedents are impeccable and there was no possibility of him “fleeing from justice”.
Requesting more time to appear before the CBI, Mr Chidambaram asked for interim relief “or else he would suffer irreparable loss”.
Mr Chidambaram has been away during two visits by the CBI and one by the Enforcement Directorate since the Delhi High Court rejected his request for anticipatory bail on Tuesday. Around midnight, the CBI pasted a notice asking the former Finance Minister to appear before it within two hours of receiving the note.
“The petitioner is a law-abiding citizen and has reputation to sustain in the society. He is a sitting Member of the Rajya Sabha. The antecedents of the Petitioner are impeccable. He has never been an accused of any offence. There is no possibility of his fleeing from justice,” Mr Chidambaram’s petition says, adding that “custodial interrogation is not at all warranted”.
Senior lawyer and Congress leader Kapil Sibal represented him in court.
Last night, the CBI had pasted a notice outside the house asking Mr Chidambaram to appear before them within two hours of receiving the note.
Mr Chidambaram faces arrest in what is dubbed the “INX Media case”, in which he is accused of facilitating foreign investment in a media company as Finance Minister in the Congress-led UPA government at the instance of his son Karti, who allegedly received kickbacks for his role.
