Senior Congress leader and former Finance Minister P Chidambaram was not at his residence as the CBI team arrived at his Delhi home this morning for the second time after a six-member team of Central Bureau of Investigation and Enforcement Directorate officials left a notice at his Jor Bagh residence on Tuesday.

After the Delhi High Court refused to grant him protection from arrest in the INX Media case, the CBI late on Tuesday night pasted a notice on his gate asking him to appear before the investigation officer “within two hours.”

On Tuesday the CBI team reached Chidambaram’s residence around 6.30 pm and left 10 minutes later. The ED team then arrived at the senior Congress leader’s residence at around 7.30 pm.

Both teams left the premises after confirming that Chidambaram was not present at the address.

When Chidambaram remained untraceable to the investigative agencies for hours, a CBI team returned to his residence and pasted a notice on the gate asking Chidambaram to appear before R Parthasarthy, CBI Deputy SP, who is probing the case, to record his statement under Section 161 of the CrPC.

The notice pasted at Chidambaram house read, “Whereas it appears that you are acquainted with the facts and circumstances of the cases noted below which I am now investigating under chapter XII of the CrPc, you are hereby directed to attend before me within two hours of the receipt for the purpose of the investigation of the case.”

The top lawyers of the Congress party,  Abhishek Singhvi, Kapil Sibal and Salman Khurshid, will be up for a legal battle at the Supreme Court on Wednesday to prevent former Union minister P Chidambaram’s arrest in the case.

Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra also tweeted in support of the senior Congress leader saying, “We stand by him and will continue to fight for the truth no matter what the consequences are.”

An extremely qualified and respected member of the Rajya Sabha, @PChidambaram_IN ji has served our nation with loyalty for decades including as Finance Minister & Home Minister. He unhesitatingly speaks truth to power and exposes the failures of this government,
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— Priyanka Gandhi Vadra (@priyankagandhi) August 21, 2019

In a huge setback for Chidambaram, the Delhi High Court on Tuesday dismissed both the anticipatory bail pleas of the former finance minister in connection with INX Media case being investigated by Central Bureau of Investigation and the Enforcement Directorate.

While the CBI is investigating alleged irregularities in the Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) clearance granted to INX Media for receiving overseas funds to the tune of Rs 305 crore in 2007 when P Chidambaram was the Finance Minister, the ED is probing the money laundering angle.