A Delhi court on Tuesday allowed the Enforcement Directorate (ED) to arrest former finance minister P Chidambaram in connection with INX Media money laundering case.
The court has allowed the ED to first interrogate Chidambaram for 30 minutes and then arrest him if needed.
The 74-year-old Congress leader has been in Tihar jail since September 5 in the INX Media case. ED will interrogate him in Tihar on Wednesday.
The Enforcement Directorate on Friday approached the court seeking production warrant against Chidambaram in the INX media case.
ED said in its plea to the court that it requires custodial interrogation of Chidambaram in the case.
Solicitor General, Tushar Mehta representing ED in the case has argued that Chidambaram needs to be taken in for custodial interrogation to obtain information on shell companies in foreign countries and 17 bank accounts.
He pointed out that even the Supreme Court had observed that custodial interrogation is required in this case. Following this, the court had issued a production warrant against the former Finance Minister.
Chidambaram is under probe by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and ED over alleged irregularities in the FIPB clearance granted to INX Media for receiving overseas funds of Rs 305 crore in 2007 during his tenure as Union Finance Minister.
The ED suspects the Congress leader and his son Karti of owning several immovable properties and over 16 bank accounts in other countries, which they are trying to identify to trace the money trail.
P Chidambaram and his son Karti were named by Peter and Indrani Mukerjea, who owned INX Media at the time and are currently in jail in connection with the murder of Indrani Mukerjea’s daughter Sheena Bora.