INX case: Delhi HC directs AIIMS director to constitute medical board on condition of Chidambaram
New Delhi: The Delhi High Court on Thursday directed the AIIMS director to constitute a medical board today itself to give an opinion on the health of former finance minister P Chidambaram, who is suffering from Crohn's disease.
The high court said Hyderabad-based gastroenterologist Nageshwara Redy be included in the board to give his opinion on the medical condition of Chidambaram, who is currently lodged in Tihar Jail.
Chidambaram has sought interim bail in the INX media money laundering case on medical grounds, saying his condition is deteriorating and he needs to be in a sterile environment. Justice Suresh Kait said the board will sit today to discuss Chidambaram's medical condition and the report be placed before the court which will hear the matter on Friday.
The 74-year-old senior Congress leader had moved the High Court on Wednesday seeking interim bail in the INX Media money-laundering case. Chidambaram has sought interim relief for six days to enable him to consult and get examined by his doctor at the Asian Institute of Gastroenterology (AIG), Hyderabad.
He has claimed that he needs "urgent medical treatment for the acute and persistent abdominal pain being experienced" by him since October 5 due to Crohn's disease which he was diagnosed with in 2017.
Crohn's disease is inflammation of the digestive tract leading to abdominal pain, diarrhoea and also weight loss.
According to his bail application, he was examined at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) on October 7 and was prescribed an antibiotic and painkillers after which the abdominal pain subsided.
Thereafter, the problem recurred on October 22 and he was examined on October 23 at AIIMS and prescribed a new set of medicines. However, there was no relief from the pain, the application has contended.
Subsequently, he was examined again at AIIMS on October 24 and October 26 and tests were conducted at Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital on October 28, it has said.
After the medical test, Chidambaram has been put on steroid treatment for next 16 weeks, the application has said and added that as his body was not responding to treatment prescribed at AIIMS he be allowed to consult his doctor at AIG.
It has also said that his medical reports were sent to his regular doctor by e-mail and after perusing the same, the doctor has said the inflammation has increased and Chidambaram needs immediate treatment in a sterile environment.
The application has further said that he has lost nearly seven kilos due to the ailment. The plea for interim relief has been moved by Chidambaram in his application seeking regular bail in the INX Media money-laundering case in which he is presently in ED custody.
His plea for regular bail is listed for hearing on November 4.
Chidambaram, who was sent to Tihar Jail on Wednesday till November 13 by the trial court in the INX media money laundering case, was arrested by the CBI on August 21 in the INX Media corruption case.
The case was registered on May 15, 2017, alleging irregularities in a Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) clearance to the INX Media group for receiving overseas funds of Rs 305 crore in 2007 during Chidambaram's tenure as Union finance minister.
Let the Truth be known. If you read VB and like VB, please be a VB Supporter and Help us deliver the Truth to one and all.
Death toll in attack on Kyiv apartment building now stands at 24
Kyiv (AP): Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Friday that a Russian missile attack on a Kyiv apartment building the previous day killed 24 people, including what local officials said were three teenagers.
Emergency workers finished digging through the building's rubble after more than a day, Zelenskyy said on X.
The cruise missile hit the nine-story corner block during what the Ukrainian air force said was Russia's biggest barrage of the country since its all-out invasion.
The assault mostly targeted the Ukrainian capital, where 48 people were wounded, including two children, Zelenskyy said.
Russia hammered Ukraine with large-scale aerial attacks in the days following a May 9-11 ceasefire that US President Donald Trump said he asked Zelenskyy and Russian President Vladimir Putin to observe. Fighting went on over those 72 hours, although reportedly on a lesser scale.
This week's attacks ran counter to recent suggestions from Trump and Putin that the war, now in its fifth year, is close to ending.
Zelenskyy said Thursday that Moscow had launched more than 1,560 drones against Ukrainian population centres since Wednesday. In all, some 180 sites across the country were damaged, including more than 50 residential buildings, he said.
Previously, the biggest Russian drone attack was from the evening of March 23 to the evening of March 24 when Moscow's forces fired nearly 1,000 drones and missiles at Ukraine.
Ukraine has also built up significant long-range capabilities, and Russia's Defense Ministry said Friday that air defences downed 355 drones overnight in one of the largest Ukrainian drone attacks of the war.
Several airports suspended flights overnight because of the attacks.
Also, a Ukrainian drone attack on Ryazan, about 100 kilometres (60 miles) southeast of Moscow, killed four people, including a child, Ryazan Governor Pavel Malkov said.
After the attack, massive plumes of black smoke spewed from a fire at a local oil refinery. Ukraine has targeted Russian oil facilities in an effort to deny vital export revenue for Moscow and rattle the Kremlin.
Ukrainian officials made no immediate comment about the Ryazan strike.
The Ukrainian capital observed an official day of mourning Friday in remembrance of those killed Thursday, and Zelenskyy visited the site.
The cruise missile that hit the apartment building was built in the second quarter of this year, Zelenskyy said, apparently after Ukrainian experts analyzed the wreckage.
“This means Russia is still importing the components, resources and equipment necessary for missile production in circumvention of global sanctions,” Zelenskyy said in another post on X late Thursday.
“Stopping Russia's sanctions evasion schemes must be a genuine priority for all our partners,” he said.
Russia and Ukraine have continued to occasionally swap prisoners of war, and 205 from each country returned home Friday.
Zelenskyy said it was the first phase of a planned 1,000-for-1,000 prisoner swap. Some of the Ukrainians released had been held in Russian captivity since 2022, he said, and had fought in some of the war's fiercest battles.
Russia's Defence Ministry confirmed the exchange and thanked the United Arab Emirates for helping broker it.
