Being treated as a criminal, argues PC
INX CASE Counsel says keeping ex-FM in jail sends wrong message, he is being treated as ‘Ranga/Billa’ for unproven economic offence
NEWDELHI: Former Union finance minister P Chidambaram, who has spent more than three months in custody, on Wednesday questioned the rationale adopted by the Delhi high court in rejecting his bail plea in the INX Media case lodged by the Enforcement Directorate (ED).
Senior counsel and Congress politician Kapil Sibal, appearing for Chidambaram, first arrested in the case on August 21 by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), said his client was being treated like “Ranga/Billa” for an economic offence which has not been proved yet. It was a reference to a pair of notorious criminals executed in 1982 .
“It is as if I am some Ranga/ Billa. If I am not released on bail, it will send a wrong message to this country,” said Sibal, speaking on Chidambaram’s behalf in the case. The hearing will continue on Thursday, when the ED, the anti-money laundering agency, will present its case
Ranga and Billa were two hardened criminals who came to Delhi from Mumbai soon after their release from Arthur Road jail. They kidnapped two teenaged siblings and brutalised them in August 1978. The siblings were on their way to the All India Radio building in the heart of the capital for a radio programme and had hitched a ride. The double murder led to one of India’s biggest hunts for the criminals four decades back. Two national bravery awards were also instituted in memory of the two siblings, Geeta and Sanjay Chopra. Ranga and Billa were eventually caught within days and hanged in 1982.
Sibal told the Supreme Court that there was no evidence connecting Chidambaram to the INX Media case and his incarceration would send a wrong message to the country. “According to them, corruption money of ~10 lakh was allegedly paid to Karti Chidambaram and since I am Karti Chidambaram’s father, I am (portrayed as) the kingpin.”
Chidambaram was arrested by CBI on August 21 in the case which pertains to alleged irregularities in Foreign Investment
Promotion Board clearance granted to the group for receiving overseas funds of ~307 crore in 2007 during his tenure as the finance minister. The CBI registered an FIR against him in 2017 for offences under the IPC and Prevention of Corruption Act. The ED lodged separate case against him under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act in 2018.
The Congress politician, a Rajya Sabha member, was granted bail by the Supreme Court in the CBI case on October 22. However, the ED arrested him for separate offences under the PMLA Act in relation to the same case. Bail in the ED case was rejected by Delhi high court on November 15. The Supreme Court is now hearing Chidambaram’s appeal against that judgment.
He told the bench that the Delhi high court had rejected the ED’s arguments on the triple test for grant of bail which says bail depends on whether an accused is a flight risk, whether would tamper with evidence or influence witnesses. Despite rejecting these concerns, the high court had refused to grant bail on grounds that economic offences are “gravest offences against the society” and are, hence, required to be treated differently.