P Chidambaram moves Supreme Court after Delhi HC denies him anticipatory bail

Senior Congress leader and former Finance Minister P Chidambaram has moved the Supreme Court challenging the decision of the Delhi High Court denying him anticipatory bail in the INX Media case..An urgent listing of the petition was sought. However, Chidambaram has been told to mention the matter before the senior-most judge present at the Supreme Court tomorrow..Delhi HC denies anticipatory bail to P Chidambaram in INX Media case.The matter is therefore likely to be mentioned before Justice NV Ramana tomorrow, given that Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi and the second senior-most judge, Justice SA Bobde will both be sitting on the five-judge Bench hearing the Ayodhya dispute..After anticipatory bail was denied by the High Court, Chidambaram had sought a stay on the operation of the order till he moved the Supreme Court..However, the request for stay was rejected by Justice Sunil Gaur of the Delhi High Court at 4 pm today, prompting Chidambaram to approach the Supreme Court seeking an urgent listing of his appeal..Detailing the events, Senior Counsel and Congress leader Kapil Sibal told the press,.“We requested him (Justice Sunil Gaur) to grant stay because he (P Chidambaram) had been protected for fifteen months including for the seven months (that the order remained reserved)….…Therefore, we requested for a stay on the order till we go to the Supreme Court. He said I’ll consider it, he went into chambers and at 4 O’clock he rejected to stay. Now we have come to the Supreme Court and requested the Chief Justice of India. He has said you move before the Senior most Judge”.The order in Chidambaram’s plea seeking anticipatory bail was reserved by the Delhi High Court on January 25 this year. Delivering the verdict nearly seven months after reserving it, the High Court observed that a prima facie case was made out. The Court also rejected the argument that the case against Chidambaram was politically motivated..The INX Media case pertains to the alleged irregularities in the Foreign Investment Promotion Board clearance to INX Media at the time when P Chidambaram was the Finance Minister. It is the case of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and the Enforcement Directorate (ED) that P Chidambaram and his son Karti Chidambaram received illegal gratification from INX Media owners, Peter and Indrani Mukherjea for the clearance..Karti Chidambaram was granted bail in the case by the High Court last year while Indrani Mukherjea has turned into an approver..[Read Order]