The Supreme Court on Tuesday extended till Wednesday the interim protection from arrest by the Enforcement Directorate granted to former finance minister P. Chidambaram in the INX Media money laundering case. The apex court heard pronounced the interim order after hearing Chidambaram's counsel on Wednesday.
The hearing in the case will continue in the court on Wednesday at 2pm when Solicitor General Tushar Mehta will argue on behalf of the Enforcement Directorate.
The senior Congress leader is already in the CBI custody after a Special CBI court on Monday extended his remand till August 30.
Earlier in the day, Chidambaram's counsel sought in the Supreme Court that the ED be asked to produce the transcripts of his interrogation it had conducted on three dates in the INX Media money laundering case. "Interrogation transcript should given to the court. Sealed cover note saying he was evasive is not evidence. The documents in sealed cover has to be put before accused before submitting to court," said senior lawyer Abhishek Manu Singhvi, part of Chidambaram's counsel.
Senior advocate Kapil Sibal, appearing for Chidambaram, told a bench of Justices R. Banumathi and A.S. Bopanna that they have filed an application seeking direction to the ED to produce the transcripts of the questioning conducted on December 19 last year, January 1, 2019 and January 21, 2019 in the case. The transcripts will show whether Chidambaram was evasive during his questioning, as alleged by the ED, Sibal said.
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Sibal also argued against the presentation of the case diary in the apex court. "They are just producing documents at random and saying this is part of the case diary," Sibal said, adding, "They cannot place the documents behind the back and seek custody of accused".
Chidambaram's counsel has filed two applications in the court. They have sought for the interrogation transcripts to be placed on record. In addition, they have also sought an additional affidavit against the order of CBI remand, wherein the extension is challenged.