Priyanka, Rahul visit Chidambaram in jail ahead of bail hearing

Congress leaders Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra on Wednesday reached Tihar Jail in Delhi to meet former finance minister P Chidambaram. The meeting takes place just hours before the Supreme Court hears a bail petition by Chidambaram in the INX Media case,

Before this, Congress president Sonia Gandhi and former prime minister Manmohan Singh visited Chidambaram in September.

Chidambaram is in jail since September 5 in connection with the INX Media case filed by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).

The 74-year-old Rajya Sabha member was arrested by CBI from his house on August 21 in the INX Media case for alleged corruption.

After that, he was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) on October 16 in a related money laundering case. The Supreme Court will on Wednesday hear his bail petition against his arrest by the Enforcement Directorate. He received bail in the CBI case from the Supreme Court on October 22.

The former finance minister was sent to Tihar jail on September 5 at the end of his custodial interrogation by CBI. His first stint in Tihar was for 14 days after which the CBI court in Delhi on September 20, extended his judicial custody by two more weeks. Special Judge Ajay Kumar Kuhar had remanded Chidambaram to custody until October 3.

CBI registered the case on May 15, 2017, alleging irregularities in a Foreign Investment Promotion Board clearance granted to INX Media for receiving overseas funds in 2007, during Chidambaram’s tenure as finance minister in the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government.

ED subsequently lodged the money laundering case.

Chidambaram has been allotted a single high-security cell inside Tihar.