Video Editor: Varun Sharma
Former Finance Minister, Home Minister and senior lawyer P Chidambaram is in the CBI’s grip. On Thursday, 22 August, the CBI Rouse Avenue Court granted the investigating agency five-day custody in the INX Media Case.
Chidambaram’s lawyers asserted that the arrest is wrong, invalid and vengeful. They said the issue is old and has already seen a lot of interrogations by the CBI. They asked for Chidambaram’s immediate release.
The court, however, maintained that Chidambaram's “integrity must not be meddled with” and added that his family can visit him every day for a stipulated period of time.
It’s hard to recall such a dramatic arrest of an acclaimed and noted senior leader since Independence.
The image of CBI officials scaling the walls of Chidambaram's residence won't be easy to forget anytime soon.
What Is the Issue?
The ED and the CBI have been investigating several cases against Chidambaram and his son, Karti Chidambaram, for a long time now.
Whenever they were summoned in the money-laundering case, they sought and received interim protection from arrest, and agreed to cooperate and negotiate.
However, on Monday, when the CBI got the approval to freely investigate the matter, the outcome of the same was predictable.
The BJP maintains that whatever is being done complies with the law.
Debate That Will Rule the Next Few Days
In the coming days, people will witness a lot of arguments ‘for’ and ‘against’ Chidambaram's arrest.
To be clear, in regard to the merits and the demerits of the case, no one has adequate information to comment and neither will we.
Kapil Sibal, Abhishek Singhvi and other lawyers of Chidambaram maintained that the CBI wants to unduly keep him under arrest despite the fact that he answered all of their questions on Thursday too.
In the court, CBI Solicitor General Tushar Mehta said that Chidambaram is prohibited from talking but the court allowed him to do so.
The case is a complex one which also includes Peter Mukerjea and Indrani Mukerjea with respect to the foreign investment approvals in INX Media. Accused Indrani had turned an approver in the case this year.
ED has also said that there are several other similar cases like DIGO, SR, and the Aircel-Maxis.
Karti has been interrogated before and is currently on bail. Hence, the probe agency wants to confront Chidambaram now.
Congress Claims Throttling of Dissent
Congress party has expressed their strong disapproval by saying that the arrest reflects character assassination of the leaders and is done to constantly victimise them since they criticise the government.
Congress leaders have come out in the open and said that the arrest is being done to silence the voice of the Opposition.
The fight against against corruption has reached another level altogether. Similarly, MNS Chief Raj Thackeray was also summoned and questioned by the ED on Thursday in connection to the Kohinoor Mills Case.
It's important to note that anti-corruption has become BJP's primary aim. The entire spectacle falls in line with how vocal PM Modi has been about targeting corruption and the people involved in related cases.
Talks of ‘sweet revenge’ are doing the rounds on the Internet as Amit Shah was arrested by the CBI in 2010 when Chidambaram was the home minister.
In the end, we know that this case will go on for a long time as the debate on how valid the arrest is, or if it could have been avoided as Chidambaram's lawyers claimed, will rage.
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