SC verdict on Chidambaram's bail tomorrow

December 03, 2019 19:20

The Supreme Court is scheduled to pronounce verdict on Wednesday over Congress leader P Chidambaram's plea seeking bail in the INX Media money laundering case.

A bench headed by Justice R Banumathi had on November 28 reserved judgement on the appeal filed by Chidambaram who has challenged the November 15 verdict of the Delhi high court denying him bail in the case.

During the arguments, the Enforcement Directorate had claimed in the apex court that the 74-year-old former finance minister continues to wield 'substantial influence' on crucial witnesses in the case even from the custody, while he said that the agency cannot 'destroy' his career and reputation by making baseless allegations.

Opposing his bail plea, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for the ED, maintained that economic offences like money laundering are grave in nature as they not only affect the nation's economy but also shake people's faith in the system, especially when it is committed by people in power.

Senior advocates Kapil Sibal and A M Singhvi, representing the former union finance minister, had countered Mehta's submissions and said there was neither any evidence linking Chidambaram directly or indirectly with the alleged offence nor there was any material to show that he had influenced witnesses or tampered with any evidence.

Chidambaram was first arrested by the Central Bureau of Investigation on August 21 in the INX Media corruption case and was granted bail by the top court on October 22.

The ED had arrested him on October 16 in the money laundering case.

The CBI registered its case on May 15, 2017, alleging irregularities in a FIPB clearance granted to the INX Media group for receiving overseas funds of Rs 305 crore in 2007, during Chidambaram's tenure as finance minister.

Thereafter, the ED had lodged a money-laundering case. -- PTI

« Back to LIVE

TOP STORIES

Adultery can be a ground for divorce, not basis for child's custody: HC

"Not being a good wife does not necessarily mean she is not a good mother. Adultery can be a ground for divorce, however, the same cannot be a ground for not granting custody," the court observed.

Memes the weapon of choice as election wars go digital

From Instagram to X, social media platforms, in the run-up to the polls have seen bitter poster wars and even bitter meme battles for political one-upmanship.

How ridiculous can ED be?: Kejriwal on 'sugar' charge

Referring to the ED's claim about the politician eating mangoes, sweets, aalo-poori etc regularly, he said these were provided to him only a few times.

Sensex rallies 599 pts on buying in banking, auto shares

From the Sensex basket, Bajaj Finance, Mahindra & Mahindra, HDFC Bank, JSW Steel, Maruti, Wipro, Bharti Airtel, Bajaj Finserv, ICICI Bank and ITC were the major gainers. Nestle India, HCL Technologies, Larsen & Toubro, Tata Consultancy...

Liverpool crash out! Can they stop Man City?

Mohamed Salah's early penalty in the return match on Thursday gave Liverpool a 1-0 victory in Italy but Klopp's side went out 3-1 on aggregate.