Chidambaram Rahasyam! SC has mercy on INX meida accused; Extends his CBI custody till Sept 5 instead of sending him to Tihar jail

New Delhi, September 02: Having begged long, the Congressi, INX meida accused P Chidambaram has avoided the possibility of being sent to Delhi's Tihar Jail today as the Supreme Court extended his CBI custody till Thursday.

 

This is after his defence head Kapil Sibal pleaded the Supreme Court to consider his age a factor to worry "There must be some protection to Chidambaram. He is 74 years old. Let him be put under house arrest and not sent to Tihar Jail," Kapil Sibal appealed.

 

In CBI custody, Chidambaram has been put up in a suite at the guest-house floor of the agency's headquarters in Delhi. If he is sent to judicial custody, then he will be taken to the Tihar, Asia's largest prison facility.

 

The top court said the former Finance Minister, arrested by the CBI in a corruption case, should apply for regular bail before the competent court. "You can't humiliate people like this", Sibal argued, wondering what would happen if the trial court rejected the request and sent him to jail.

 

The court said house arrest was an option only for political prisoners. The judges, R Banumathi and AS Bopanna, also questioned why Chidambaram was not making the request before the special CBI court, which has to decide on his custody.

 

Chidambaram is accused by the CBI of facilitating a huge infusion of foreign funds into the media company INX Media in 2007, when he was Finance Minister, at the instance of his son Karti Chidambaram, who allegedly received kickbacks for his role.