INX Media scam: Delhi court extends Chidambaram's judicial custody till Oct 3
New Delhi: A Delhi court Thursday extended till October 3 the judicial custody of former finance minister P Chidambaram in connection with the INX Media corruption case.
Special judge Ajay Kumar Kuhar also allowed medical examination of Chidambaram.
The court extended the judicial custody of Chidambaram after the CBI sought extension of the veteran Congress leader's judicial remand.
Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for CBI, sought extension of the judicial custody and said there has been no change of circumstance from the day he was first sent to jail.
Senior advocate Kapil Sibal, appearing for Chidambaram, opposed the investigative agency's plea to extend his judicial custody.
Sibal moved an application on behalf of Chidambaram seeking regular medical checkup and adequate supplementary diet during judicial custody in Tihar Jail.
He said that the 73-year old Congress leader is suffering from various ailments like coronary artery disease, hypertension, impaired glycemia and has lost weight during the custody, to which he was sent on September 5.
Senior advocate Abhishek Manu Singhvi, also appearing for Chidambaram, said the former minister had a chair in the hall outside his cell which has been taken away. "He can only sit on bed. He also has not been given a pillow".
Allow him to be examined at AIIMS, Sibal said. "Health of any inmate is of concern. Whatever is permissable in law, would be done by the jail authorities," Mehta said.
The CBI had registered an FIR on May 15, 2017, alleging irregularities in the Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) clearance granted to the INX Media group for receiving overseas funds of Rs 305 crore in 2007 during Chidambaram's tenure as the finance minister.
Thereafter, the Enforcement Directorate lodged a money laundering case in this regard in 2017.
Chidambaram, who was Union home minister as also finance minister during the UPA rule from 2004 to 2014, was arrested by the CBI on August 21 from his Jor Bagh residence.
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Congress using hijab issue to pacify minority anger, alleges Karnataka LoP R Ashoka
Bengaluru: Leader of Opposition in the Assembly R. Ashoka has accused the Congress government of using the hijab issue to placate what he described as discontent among minority voters after the Davanagere by-election.
In a post on X on Wednesday, Ashoka alleged that the state government, instead of addressing issues such as price rise, corruption, farmers’ distress and law and order, was attempting to retain its minority vote base by reviving the hijab issue.
Referring to the 2022 dress code introduced by the BJP government, which prohibited hijab in schools and colleges, Ashoka said the Karnataka High Court had upheld the policy and emphasised the importance of discipline in educational institutions.
He questioned the Congress government’s move to revisit the issue and asked whether setting aside the court-backed policy to benefit one community could be described as secularism.
Ashoka further alleged that while the government was willing to permit hijab, it continued to prohibit saffron shawls.
He accused the government of dividing students on religious lines rather than treating schools and colleges as spaces of equality.
Drawing a comparison with Mamata Banerjee’s government in West Bengal, Ashoka claimed that excessive appeasement politics had harmed the state and warned that the Congress in Karnataka could face a similar political response.
He said voters in Karnataka would teach the Congress a lesson for what he termed “vote-bank politics” and for compromising constitutional and judicial principles.
