Chidambaram to stay in Tihar, court rejects surrender plea

Chidambaram is currently in judicial custody custody at Tihar Jail

P. Chidambaram PTI (File) P. Chidambaram after he was produced in a CBI court in the INX Media case | PTI

Congress leader P. Chidambaram suffered yet another blow in the INX Media case after a special court in Delhi on Friday rejected his plea to surrender to the Enforcement Directorate in the case.

Chidambaram is currently in judicial custody custody at Tihar Jail. Chidambaram was arrested by the CBI on August 21 and has been remanded to judicial custody till September 19.

On Thursday, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta argued that the Enforcement Directorate would seek custody of Chidambaram in connection with a money-laundering case in the INX Media issue at an “appropriate time”. Mehta had argued that if Chidambaram's plea to surrender was accepted, then “every accused would come before the court and surrender”. Mehta argued the accused could not choose the date of his arrest.

Chidambaram's lawyer, Kapil Sibal, argued the Enforcement Directorate had wanted to arrest him on August 20 and 21 but had “changed their mind”. Sibal argued the Enforcement Directorate wanted Chidambaram to be in judicial custody and wanted “prolong it as long as they could”.