INX Media case: P Chidambaram arrested amid high drama, to appear before CBI court on Thursday

Former Finance Minister P Chidambaram has been arrested from his residence in Jor Bagh locality of New Delhi on Wednesday. He has been taken to the Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital for a medical check-up, following which he will be taken to the CBI headquarters. He is expected be produced before a special CBI court on Thursday.

Before his arrest, Chidambaram briefly appeared at the AICC headquarters in New Delhi to address the media on the charges levelled against him in the INX Media case after remaining untraceable for almost 27 hours. In his address, Chidambaram strongly defended himself and his family, asserting that none of them have been named in the INX Media case by any of the agencies.

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Earlier on Wednesday, Chidambaram's legal team tried to get anticipatory bail for him from the Supreme Court. However, the apex court decided to hear the matter on Friday. Chidambaram had urged the probe agencies to wait till Friday till his bail plea was heard by the apex court.

The Delhi High Court had dismissed Chidambaram's anticipatory bail plea on Tuesday and declared him the kingpin in the INX Media case. Following this, the veteran Congress leader had fallen off the grid. The Central Bureau of Investigation and Enforcement Directorate had issued separate look out circulars to prevent him from leaving the country.

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The ED suspects Chidambaram's hand in granting alleged illegal FIPB clearances to at least six business deals, including INX Media and Aircel-Maxis, and receiving multi-crore kickbacks through multiple shell firms, the sources said. The CBI had lodged a case later based on the information provided by the ED.

The ED has also come across evidences where alleged illegal deposits of over Rs 300 crore made in a single shell firm after purported kickbacks were received by Chidambaram and his son Karti in lieu of granting illegal Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) and Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) approvals.