The Supreme Court has granted bail to former finance minister P Chidambaram in the INX Media case. As per reports, the scam accused former UPA minister is granted bail in the ED case against him.
The bail has come after over 106 days in custody. As reported by Live Law, the SC has criticised the Delhi HC for making observations on the merits of the case. The SC has noted that despite the triple test being found on Chidambaram’s favour, observations were made on merit. The SC observed that the accused has participated in the investigation.
#PChidambaram
SC criticizes Delhi HC for making observations on the merits of the case. Despite triple test being found in Chidambaram’s favour, observations were made on merit. The SC observed that @PChidambaram_IN participated in investigation.#INXMediaCase— Live Law (@LiveLawIndia) December 4, 2019
Chidambaram has been lodged in Tihar jail. He might get released today. Observing that economic offences are also ‘grave’, the SC bench has granted bail to the Congress leader under a bail bond of Rs 2 lakh and 2 sureties.
Other conditions of bail are that Chidambaram can not contact the witness of the cases against him, can not travel without prior permission, can not make press statements over the case and will make himself available for interrogation when summoned.
The judgement was pronounced by a 3-member bench of Justice R Bhanumathi, AS Bopanna and Hrishikesh Roy.
The UPA stalwart and former Union minister was arrested by the CBI after a high-level drama where CBI officials had to scale the walls of his residence on August 21. After 58 days under the CBI custody, the SC had granted him bail in the CBI case.
But the ED had taken the custody of Chidambaram on October 17, before his bail order came for the CBI case. So he had remained lodged in Tihar all this while.
The INX Media case is over the foreign funding received by INX Media, then owned by News X’s Peter and Indrani Muckerjea, allegedly by the violation of FIPB norms by the union finance ministry under Chidambaram. Chidambaram’s son Karti is also accused of lobbying and bribery in the case.
