The Supreme Court on Wednesday granted bail to former Finance Minister P Chidambaram in the INX Media case paving the way for his release from Delhi’s Tihar jail after 106 days in custody. Reacting to Chidambaram’s bail, BJP leader Sambit Patra took a potshot at the veteran Congress leader saying that he had joined a coveted ‘OOBC’ club.
Chidambaram’s son, Karti Chidambaram, tweeted, “Phew. At last after 106 days :)”
Phew. At last after 106 days 🙂
— Karti P Chidambaram (@KartiPC) December 4, 2019
Karti is also an accused in the INX Media case. Meanwhile, Patra took to Twitter to attack Chidambaram stating that the latter had now become a member of what he said was ‘Out On Bail Club.’ He wrote, “So finally Chidambaram too joins the long list of “OOBC(Out On Bail Club)” in the Congress ..He joins the coveted Club,some members of which are: 1)Sonia Gandhi 2)Rahul Gandhi 3)Robert Vadra 4)Motilal Vohra
5)Bhupinder Hooda 6)Sashi Tharoor Etc Etc.”
So finally Chidambaram too joins the long list of “OOBC(Out On Bail Club)” in the Congress ..He joins the coveted Club,some members of which are:
1)Sonia Gandhi
2)Rahul Gandhi
3)Robert Vadra
4)Motilal Vohra
5)Bhupinder Hooda
6)Sashi Tharoor
Etc Etc https://t.co/VPVxcqzv4H— Sambit Patra (@sambitswaraj) December 4, 2019
The Congress tweeted, “Truth finally prevails. #SatyamevaJayate.”
According to the Livelaw website, the Supreme Court Bench comprising Justices R Banumathi, AS Bopanna and Hrishikesh Roya criticised the Delhi High Court for its observation on the merits of the allegations against Chidambaram while rejecting his bail petition. The Bench observed that the former union minister had satisfied the triple tests for granting bail. “we disapprove the manner in which the conclusions are recorded in paragraphs 57 to 62 (of Delhi HC judgment) wherein the observations are reflected to be in the nature of finding relating to the alleged offence”, Livelaw website quoted the top court as saying.
The CBI had on 21 August arrested former Finance Minister P Chidambaram in a dramatic sequence of events after CBI officials jumped the gate of his residence in Jor Bagh in Delhi. Also joining the CBI personnel were officials from the Enforcement Directorate. Since then, he’s been in CBI custody.
Chidambaram is accused of facilitating the huge flow of foreign funds in INX Media when he was the country’s finance minister at the request of his son Karti Chidambaram. Karti is alleged to have received kickbacks in the case. Karti was arrested and sent to Tihar Jail earlier this year.