Seems like former Finance Minister and Congress leader P Chidambaram‘s troubles are not going to end any time soon. A Delhi court has extended the CBI custody of the Congress leader by another three days till 2nd September, considering that the Supreme Court is also set to hear the Special Leave Petition (SLP) against remand order on that day.
P Chidambaram, who was arrested on August 21 and sent to Central Bureau Investigation (CBI) custody in connection with the INX Media case, will now stay in the CBI remand till Monday. Earlier he had been remanded for 4 days twice, and his second remand was to end today.
Earlier in the day, the CBI had sought an extension of P Chidambaram’s custodial interrogation by five days in a Delhi court in the INX Media case. He was produced before Special Judge Ajay Kumar Kuhar on Friday after the expiry of his 4-day CBI custody.
Additional Solicitor General (ASG) KM Natraj, who appeared for CBI, submitted before the court that Chidambaram has been partially interrogated. He said that though Chidambaram was being interrogated for 8-10 hours a day, however, since the volume of documents were huge, CBI pleaded for an extension of his custody. “He needs to be confronted with more evidence”, argued Natraj in court.
The court recorded CBI’s submission that P Chidambaram was non-cooperative and evasive.
It is notable to mention here that CBI, displeased with Chidambaram’s evasive answers to their questions, has been contemplating on securing court’s permission to conduct a lie-detection test on him.
Interestingly, SG Tushar Mehta, as well as Senior Advocates Kapil Sibal, Abhishek Manu Singhvi, who are representing Chidambaram in court, were missing from action today.
The court has granted the CBI repeated extensions to interrogate the senior Congress leader. Earlier, on August 26, a special CBI court at the Rouse Avenue court complex had extended the CBI custody of Congress leader P Chidambaram by four more days. Accepting CBI request to extend the custody, the court allowed them to keep him for custodial interrogation till 30th August.
On 22nd August, the special CBI court had granted CBI four days custody of P Chidambaram, against the agency’s request of five day’s custody. CBI had presented him at the court after his dramatic arrest on 21st August.
Notably, while the Congress era scam-tainted leader remains in CBI custody, the Supreme Court is hearing his petition against Delhi High Court order rejecting his anticipatory bail plea against arrest by ED on August 28, further extended his interim protection from arrest by Enforcement Directorate.
The apex court granted protection to Chidambaram from ED arrest even while the CBI continues to interrogate him in custody in his culpability in the INX Media case.