INX Media case: Chidambaram sent to Tihar jail, to be kept in a separate cell

New Delhi: Former Union finance minister P. Chidambaram’s desperate attempts to escape Tihar Jail in the INX Media corruption case went in vain on Thursday as a special court accepted the CBI’s plea and sent him to judicial custody till September 19.

Special judge Ajay Kumar ordered 14-day judicial custody for the veteran Congress leader, during which he will be kept in Tihar Jail. The court, however, allowed him to carry his medicines to jail and directed that he be kept in a separate cell at Tihar as he was a protectee with Z-category security.

Director-general (prisons) Sandeep Goel said: “He (Chidambaram) will be lodged in Jail 7. The facilities will be given as per the court order.”

Jail 7 is meant for economic offenders. Another senior Delhi police official said the former minister will be treated like any other inmate at Tihar.

The special court also issued notice to the Enforcement Directorate on Mr Chidambaram’s plea seeking to surrender in the money-laundering case lodged by the agency, in which the Supreme Court Thursday dismissed his plea against the August 20 Delhi high court order denying him pre-arrest bail.

Mr Chidambaram, 73, was produced before a Delhi court on Thursday after the expiry of his two-day CBI custody.

His 15-day CBI custody, ordered by the special court in five spells, which started after his arrest on August 21 night, ended on Thursday.
The former minister will turn 74 on September 16, but will have to spend his birthday in Tihar Jail.

Mr Chidambaram’s counsel opposed the CBI plea for judicial custody, saying the veteran leader was ready to go into ED custody for interrogation in the money-laundering case arising out of the scam in which the Supreme Court had refused to grant him pre-arrest bail.