New Delhi: A special court, on Thursday, granted five-day remand of the arrested Congress leaderr P. Chidambaram for his custodial interrogation in the INX Media case.
The CBI had sought five-day remand of the former Union Minister in connection with the case. Its counsel Solicitor General Tushar Mehta had said that the right to silence was a constitutional right but Chidambaram was “non cooperative and evasive to questioning”.
The next hearing in the case will be on August 26.
Chidambaram, arrested on Wednesday night after high drama, was produced in a CBI court earlier in the day. He had spent the night at the CBI Guest House at the agency’s headquarter he had himself inaugurated in 2011.
Earlier in the day, Congress spokesman Randeep Surjewala, while addressing the media, had condemned Chidambaram’s arrest by the CBI, accusing the Modi Government with “misusing” CBI and the Enforcement Directorate (ED) as a“revenge”. He also claimed the NDA Government was doing this to divert attention from other important issues, including sagging economy and rising unemployment.
Meanwhile, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee termed as “very depressing” the way Chidambaram was arrested and claimed that the judiciary was not helping the “crying” democratic system.
In her first reaction after the Congress leader’s arrest, she quoted Rabindranath Tagore, saying the “message of justice is crying silently in isolation”.
Banerjee also alleged that democracy was “absolutely
missing while the media has turned into a spokesperson for the BJP-led NDA
government”.
“I believe that sometimes the process is
incorrect. I am not talking about the legality of the matter, but he
(Chidambaram) is a senior politician. The way his matter is being handled is
very depressing, very sad and bad”, she told reporters in East
Midnapore district.
