CBI Arrests Chidambaram: High Drama Unfolds At Former Finance Minister’s Residence

NEW DELHI: Former Union Minister P. Chidambaram was arrested by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in a swift operation on Wednesday night, minutes after he reached his Jor Bagh home following a dramatic appearance at a press conference at the Congress headquarters. The CBI later took him to hospital for medical checkup.

Chidambaram was seated in the middle of a white car with CBI personnel sitting on either side as he was driven straight to the agency’s headquarters, located barely a few kilometres away from his house even though Congress workers tried to stop the CBI car.

Sources said CBI Director Rishi Kumar Shukla himself was present at the headquarters along with top officers for the questioning of former Minister. After completing the formalities, Chidambaram was arrested and will be produced in court on Thursday.

The moment Chidambaram arrived at his home from the press conference at the Congress headquarter on Akbar Road, the CBI personnel scaled walls and entered the premises.

A small group of slogan-shouting Congress workers were contained by Delhi Police personnel from posing any obstructions. The entire operation was swiftly executed within half an hour of his arrival in Jor Bagh.

Sources said that the team of lawyers was present with Chidambaram at the time when he was taken into custody.

A team of CBI personnel had been keeping a surveillance outside Chidambaram’s house ever since the Delhi High Court denied his anticipatory bail on Tuesday. The CBI team could not find him home but they swarmed the area keeping a vigil on the visitors.

Earlier, Delhi Police personnel had blocked the access to Chidambaram’s house even as another team of CBI officials made their way into the building in the posh Jor Bagh area here through the back door. After the first batch of CBI personnel scaled the wall to enter the premises, another team arrived in a car and drove straight in to take the senior Congress leader in custody. The otherwise quiet neighbourhood saw slogan shouting and a minor scuffle between a small group of Chidamabaram supporters who roughed up a person who allegedly made some unsavoury remarks against the former Minister. Sources said the CBI team completed the formalities of Chidambaram’s arrest in the presence of his lawyers.

The drama started unfolding after P. Chidambaram, who was “untraceable” since Tuesday evening after failing to obtain interim relief from the Supreme Court to the denial of his anticipatory bail plea, appeared at the Congress office here on Wednesday evening to address a press conference. He said he was “not hiding from the law but seeking protection of the law”.

“I was aghast that I was accused of hiding from the law. On the contrary, I was seeking the protection of the law. I was accused of running away from justice. On the contrary, I was engaged in the pursuit of justice,” Chidambaram told reporters. He said he would wait till Friday, when the Supreme Court had decided to hear his plea against his arrest.

However minutes after P Chidambaram left the party HQ and reached his residence at Jor Bagh here, dramatic scenes were witnessed on Wednesday night as the CBI team scaled the wall of his house. A team of ED also followed to arrest the senior Congress leader who was at his house along with a battery of lawyers, including Kapil Sibal and Abhishek Manu Singhvi.

Fear of arrest continued to hang over former Finance Minister P Chidambaram as his lawyers on Wednesday were unable to get urgent hearing in the Supreme Court challenging the Delhi High Court order dismissing his anticipatory bail in the alleged corruption and money laundering cases involving INX Media. Chidambaram’s plea will now be heard on Friday in the top court.

In another setback to P. Chidambaram, the CBI had issued a lookout circular against the senior Congress leader, alerting all airports and immigration departments to stop him if he tried to leave the country. The development came hours after the Enforcement Directorate (ED) issued a lookout circular to Chidambaram following the Supreme Court’s refusal to grant interim relief to the Rajya Sabha member from arrest in connection with cases of alleged money laundering and corruption related to the INX Media.

After the Delhi High Court order on Tuesday, a sense of desperation took over Chidambaram’s legal team as they rushed to the Supreme Court Secretary General Office to request the Chief Justice to for an urgent hearing.

The drama, which began on Tuesday at 4 pm, continued till 5 pm on Wednesday, as lawyers representing Chidambaram knocked every door in the apex court — twice Kapil Sibal and his team approached a bench headed by Justice Ramana, but could not get a hearing; the entire legal team made a silent appearance before the Chief Justice who was conducting the hearing in Ayodhya case.

“We went up to the Chief Justice to show our face (to make him realize that Chidambaram’s plea is yet to be listed), and not to make our voice heard,” said Sibal after coming out of the Chief Justice’s courtroom.

The senior advocates from Congress included Salman Khurshid, Vivek Tankha, Rakesh Khanna (Chairman, Supreme Court Bar Association) and Indira Jaising.

His counsel had considered the worst and was stretched to the last bit to secure a hearing on his appeal before any coercive step is taken by the investigating agencies — the CBI and the ED.

After the Chief Justice, who is heading the Constitution bench hearing the Ayodhya case, got up after conducting the day-to-day hearing, Chidambaram’s legal team rushed to the Registrar (Judicial) office to schedule a hearing on the matter as soon as possible. After having a discussion, the Registrar rushed to the Chief Justice; and the legal team holed up in the consultation room a few feet from Registrar’s office waited impatiently.

For nearly an hour, Chidambaram’s lawyers were seen rushing back and forth to get a bit on the listing of the matter. Finally, at 5 pm, the lawyers broke the news that the court will hear the plea on Friday.

Earlier in the day, a battery of lawyers for Chidambaram headed by Kapil Sibal appeared twice, before and after lunch break, in the court of Justice N.V. Ramana. Sibal said: “We had no choice. That is why we have come to this court again.”

Justice Ramana said some defect had been noticed in the petition. Sibal said they had cured the defect and pleaded with the court to list the matter as early as possible. “My client is not running away; a lookout notice has been issued against him. He is ready to give an undertaking that he is not going anywhere,” Sibal said.

Justice Ramana called the Registrar who informed the court that defects had been cured and that after verification, the petition would be listed. As Sibal insisted that the petition be heard, Justice Ramana refused, saying without listing the matter, he could not hear it.

In the morning, a Supreme Court bench headed by Justice Ramana refused to grant interim relief from arrest to Chidambaram and referred his plea for anticipatory bail in the INX Media case to Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi for urgent hearing. Solicitor General Tushar Mehta told the court that this was a case of “monumental money laundering”.

At this, Sibal contested that at 2 am a notice was pasted on the former Union Minister’s residence. Sibal said that on Tuesday they did approach the Chief Justice, but could not get an urgent hearing. He said the documents related to the case were ready for urgent hearing.

Chidambaram has challenged the Delhi High Court order which rejected his anticipatory bail plea on Tuesday.

On January 25, the Delhi High Court reserved order on Chidambaram’s bail plea in the case being probed by the ED and the CBI. (IANS)

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