‘P Chidambaram can’t answer what CBI wants’

New Delhi: Former Union minister and senior Congress leader P. Chidambaram, arrested on Wednesday in connection with the INX Media corruption case, was remanded to CBI custody till Monday. Solicitor General Tushar Mehta told the court that Chidambaram had to be interrogated in custody as he was “not being co-operative and being evasive in his replies.”

Chidambaram’s counsel Kapil Sibal pointed out that Peter and Indrani Mukherjea, also accused in the case, are out on default bail and they were in jail “in connection with another matter”.

The officials who gave the FIPB approval were not arrested, he said, contending that grant of bail was a rule and the issue before the court was of personal liberty.

Singhvi said the entire case was based on the Indrani Mukherjea’s statement, as she turned approver. He argued that Chidambaram “cannot answer what CBI wants to hear.”

He argued that the CBI “cannot seek remand on the ground of evasive replies” and that there was “no allegation of tampering of evidence.” The CBI counsel countered by saying that Chidambaram had entered into a criminal conspiracy with others, and it was “a serious and monumental case of money laundering.”

Sibal argued by saying agency’s contention could not be taken as a “gospel truth”. Chidambaram was asked 12 questions of which he had already answered six during the earlier course of interrogation. The court was told that last night Chidambaram urged the CBI officials to take him into custody on Thursday morning as he had “not slept for over 24 hours.”

Countering the defence argument that there no chargesheet has yet been filed against Chidambaram, the CBI counsel argued that “the case is at pre-charge sheet stage the agency needed the material which Chidambaram was holding”. It was claimed that custodial interrogation of Chidambaram was needed to “track the money trail.