In partial relief for P Chidambaram, the Supreme Court on Monday gave protection to the former union finance minister from being sent to Tihar Jail as of now in the INX Media corruption case after he offered to be in house arrest but declined to grant interim bail.
As the 73-year-old Congress veteran fought legal battles for relief in three different courts, Special Judge Ajay Kumar Kuhar extended his CBI custody by one day on the expiry of his extended CBI remand and decided to hear his interim bail plea after 3.30 PM on Tuesday.
On Tuesday, the apex court will also take up Chidambaram's challenge to the non-bailable warrant (NBW) against him and remand orders passed by the trial court making it a crucial day for the former union minister since his arrest on the night of August 21.
Chidambaram has been subjected to custodial interrogation by the CBI for 11 days since his arrest after the Delhi High Court on August 20 dismissed his anticipatory bail plea.
Chidambaram and his son Karti also faced tough opposition to their plea in another trial court for protection from arrest in the Aircel-Maxis cases lodged by the Central Bureau of Investigation(CBI) and the Enforcement Directorate(ED).
There are reasons to believe that the Chidambarams carried out money laundering which is sufficient for their arrest, the probe agencies told Special Judge O P Saini.
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The Chidambarams need to be dealt with an 'iron hand', the CBI said, maintaining that the probe in the Aircel-Maxis corruption case is still going on. The judge reserved for September 5 its order on the anticipatory bail pleas of the Chidambarams in the two cases.
The court on August 23 extended the interim protection from arrest granted to the Chidambarams till September 3 and on Monday extended it till Thursday.
The cases relate to alleged irregularities in the grant of Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) approval in the Rs 3,500-crore Aircel-Maxis deal when Chidambaram was the finance minister.
The apex court initially, at around 1.40 PM, asked the trial court to consider Chidambaram's request for interim bail in the INX Media corruption case on Monday itself and said if he is not granted the relief, his CBI custody would be extended by three more days.
However, hours after the top court passed the order, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta mentioned the matter at around 3 PM and said there would be "jurisdictional difficulty" in implementing the order passed earlier in the day.
After hearing him, a bench of justices R Banumathi and A S Bopanna modified the order and advanced the hearing for Tuesday from Thursday (September 5) on Chidambaram's plea challenging the NBW against him and remand orders passed by the trial court.
The order was modified on oral mentioning after Mehta said as per his calculation "15 days remand period of Chidambaram will expire tomorrow or at best day after tomorrow" and CBI cannot take his custody for three more days. On the expiry of 15-day remand, the court has the option to either grant him bail or remand him to judicial custody.
Taking note of Mehta's submissions, the bench said, "CBI is at liberty to move the trial court for seeking extension of remand till tomorrow."