Court to rule on PC’S arrest today
NEW DELHI: A Delhi court will on Tuesday pronounce its order on an Enforcement Directorate (ED) plea seeking former finance minister P Chidambaram’s arrest and interrogation in the INX Media money laundering case.
“I will pass the orders on the applications tomorrow [Tuesday],” special judge Ajay Kumar Kuhar said on Monday after hearing arguments over the plea.
Chidambaram, 74, is in judicial custody until October 17 in the INX Media corruption case that the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has filed.
Earlier, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, who appeared for the ED, cited the Supreme Court observation that Chidambaram’s custodial interrogation is necessary. He said that money laundering is a separate offence while moving an application for Chidambaram’s arrest and remand.
Chidambaram’s lawyer, Kapil Sibal, opposed the plea. “The CBI has already sought his custody for investigating payment and companies abroad, which the ED wants to probe now... Yes, the Supreme Court said that they [ED] could arrest him. But they chose not to do so,” Sibal said. He said that there was no separate transaction in the cases being probed by the two investigative agencies and the ED has no power to arrest because the maximum period for remand was over.
“There cannot be a remand after the 15 day period is over when the act under question here forms part of the same transaction which the CBI is investigating. The FIR was registered by the CBI and then the ECIR was registered by ED based on that. As long as the transaction is same, the offences may be different, there cannot be an extension of remand beyond 15 days,” he told the court.
Sibal urged the court to recall its order by which Tihar authorities were directed to produce Chidambaram before it. “P Chidambaram could not have been brought to the court in this manner. It is contrary to law...”