New Delhi [India], November 18 : The Delhi High Court on Monday directed the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to respond to a petition filed by former Union Minister P Chidambaram, seeking a deferment of arguments on the charges in the INX Media case.
Chidambaram contends that if the CBI's assertion that the investigation is "complete" is accepted (without admitting or prejudicing the matter), the accused would be entitled to inspect the documents that were previously withheld but not relied upon. However, this request has been opposed by the CBI.
The bench of Justice Manoj Kumar Ohri after hearing the submissions scheduled the matter for further hearing on November 29.
Senior Advocate Sidharth Luthra, along with Advocate Arshdeep Khurana, represented P Chidambaram in the matter.
Chidambaram approached the Delhi High Court challenging the trial court's order dated October 26, 2024, which dismissed his plea seeking clarification from the CBI regarding the inspection of un-relied upon documents, as per the March 5, 2021 order in the INX Media case.
The plea notes that, according to the CBI's status report dated January 12, 2024, further investigation into "other aspects" is complete. The CBI, in its submission, states that it cannot confirm whether information obtained through execution reports related to Letters Rogatory (LRs) from the United Kingdom, Switzerland, and Singapore can be included as relied-upon or un-relied-upon documents in the chargesheet. This decision, the CBI maintains, can only be made after correlating these reports with those LRs still pending receipt.
In 2022, the Delhi High Court dismissed the CBI's petition challenging the trial court's order allowing accused persons, including Chidambaram, and their counsels to inspect documents held in the Malkhana room in the INX Media corruption case.
The CBI had registered the case on May 15, 2017, alleging irregularities in the Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) clearance granted to INX Media Group for receiving Rs 305 crore in overseas funds in 2007, during Chidambaram's tenure as Union Finance Minister. Subsequently, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) filed a money laundering case, registering a PMLA (Prevention of Money Laundering Act) case based on the CBI's FIR, alleging irregularities in the FIPB clearance for INX Media.