With a special Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) court on Friday rejecting a plea to surrender to the Enforcement Directorate, former Finance Minister P Chidambaram will have to continue his stay in jail. The verdict came as the Solicitor General (SG) appearing for the ED, sought the dismissal of the surrender application.
Chidambaram had moved an application to surrender to the Enforcement Directorate for investigation in the INX Media case. SG Tushar Mehta on Thursday said that the enforcement agency does not want Chidambaram’s custody because they are “using this time to investigate the matter”.
“As of now, we don’t want his custodial remand. We will seek his custody at an appropriate time. Since Chidambaram is already in judicial custody, he cannot tamper with evidence or influence witnesses. We are using this time to its maximum to investigate the matter,” Mehta told the court.
Pointing out that choosing a date of the arrest was not the accuser’s right, he said that Chidambaram’s arrest was necessary but the ED cannot be directed to arrest him on a particular date.
The Congress leader was arrested by the CBI in the INX Media case on Aug 21 and sent to the CBI custody for interrogation. Last week, a CBI court had sent Chidambaram to judicial custody in Tihar jail till September 19.
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