Senior Congressman P Chidambaram was left high and dry on Wednesday as despite several attempts by his lawyers to get a stay on his arrest, the Supreme Court pushed the case for hearing on Friday, giving ample time to the investigators to arrest him in the INX Media case.
The drama unfolded on Wednesday morning when a battery of lawyers along with senior advocates Kapil Sibal, Vivek Tankha, Indira Jaising, Salman Khurshid and Rakesh Khanna, reached the court of Justice NV Ramana, the second senior-most judge in SC, to request an urgent hearing on the anticipatory bail plea of Chidambaram.
Justice Ramana, sitting with Justices Mohan M Shantanagouder and Ajay Rastogi, ordered the matter to be placed before the Chief Justice of India. The team of lawyers then dashed to the CJI's court expecting an order, but returned disappointed.
Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi had assembled with four other judges to hear the Ayodhya title suit case.
Sibal opted not to mention the case. It was later learnt that Chidambaram's appeal against the Delhi High Court's Tuesday order denying protection from arrest was in "defects".
Sibal said that the Registry was insisting on attaching the copy of enforcement case information report as it made a second mention before Justice Ramana bench at 2 pm. The Registrar (Judicial) Surya Pratap Singh was summoned who informed that the "defect" had been cured and will be placed before CJI for listing. Sibal was ready to give an undertaking as his client, being a Member of Parliament (MP) would not escape.
Chidambaram claimed in his petition that since lodging of case, he was summoned once on June 6, 2018 when he participated. He claimed none of the offences under the Indian Penal Code and Prevention of Corruption Act were made out and the entire case was a clear instance of political vendetta. He questioned how CBI could arrest him in the INX Media case when FIR does not name him. No official of Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) has given statement that Chidambaram as then Finance Minister wrongfully granted clearance to INX Media, the company which received over Rs 300 crore foreign investment despite being eligible to get about Rs 5 crore.
Solicitor General Tushar Mehta told the Court that the case against Chidambaram was of money laundering of "monumental magnitude". But Justice Ramana refused to hear the matter and requested counsels to await CJI's order.
The legal team assembled again in CJI court to make a mention before the bench rose at 4 pm. But Sibal did not mention once again. Drama shifted to the office of Registrar (Judicial), who huddled into a meeting with CJI. He later informed Chidambaram's counsels that the matter will be listed on Friday before a bench to be decided on Thursday.
