New Delhi: The Delhi High Court on Wednesday allowed former Finance Minister P. Chidambaram to place some additional documents on record to support his pending anticipatory bail plea in the INX Media case.
Justice Sunil Gaur allowed Chidambaram’s application seeking to file additional documents.
Chidambaram’s move came after the Law Ministry informed the government that there was no legal infirmity in granting the CBI the sanction to prosecute the former Minister.
The plea, filed through advocate Arshdeep Singh, said, “On February 3, it was widely reported that the Law Ministry has informed the Central government that sanction can be granted to the CBI to prosecute the petitioner (Chidambaram) in the instant case.
“It appears that the opinion of the Law Ministry was sought on the request for grant of sanction made by the CBI against the petitioner.”
The counsel further said these facts on record show that the CBI has completed its investigation into the case.
On January 25, the Delhi High Court reserved order on Chidambaram’s bail plea in the INX Media case being probed by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) and the Central Bureau of Investigation.
The investigating agencies had opposed Chidambaram’s bail plea, saying that custodial interrogation of the former Finance Minister was necessary as he was evasive and had given false information during his questioning.
Chidambaram is on interim protection from arrest granted by the Delhi High Court.
The ED and the CBI are probing how his son Karti Chidambaram managed to get clearance from the Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) in 2007 when his father was the Finance Minister.
Karti Chidambaram was arrested on February 28 by the CBI for allegedly accepting money to facilitate the FIPB clearance to INX Media. He was later granted bail.
Karti’s chartered accountant S. Bhaskararaman was also arrested and released on bail later.
[source_without_link]IANS[/source_without_link]