On Thursday, the Supreme Court rejected the senior Congress leader’s anticipatory bail in the INX Media money laundering case filed by the Enforcement Directorate (ED).
The apex court bench, headed by Justices R Banumathi and comprising Justice AS Bopanna, agreed with the plea of ED that Chidambaram should be sent for custodial interrogation. On 20 August, Chidambaram had filed a petition against the Delhi high court order rejecting his anticipatory bail.
From last 15 days, Chidambaram has been in custody of Central Bureau of Investigation(CBI), the last three days at his request to block an effort by the probe agencies to send him to Tihar jail since his petitions were still pending before the top court.
The top court’s ruling places the decision on what next for Chidambaram in the hands of the Enforcement Directorate and the CBI special court at Rouse Avenue Court complex in the national capital. Earlier this week, the CBI told the court that it was done with interrogating Chidambaram for its case and he should be sent to judicial custody in Tihar. For now, Chidambaram can avoid Tihar jail only if the ED arrests him today or he is granted bail by Special CBI Judge Ajay Kumar Kuhar.
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