NEW DELHI, Sept 5 - Veteran Congress leader and former Finance Minister P Chidambaram was sent to Tihar jail on Thursday by a Delhi court where he will spend 14 days in judicial custody in connection with the INX Media corruption case.
Special Judge Ajay Kumar Kuhar sent him to judicial custody till September 19.
�The allegations against the accused were found serious therefore he was remanded to police custody. The investigation is still in progress,� the Judge said.
�CBI has apprehension that because of his status and his position, the investigation may be hampered by the accused. It�s not a case where the accused can be �released� at the stage of considering his extension of his remand as submitted by the counsel for accused.
�Having considered all facts and circumstances of the case, the nature of offences, stage of investigation, the accused is remanded to judicial custody,� he said.
The court allowed him to carry his spectacles, prescribed medicines and providing him with western toilet facility. It also directed that he be kept in a separate cell in Tihar prison as he was a protectee under Z-security.
Solicitor General Tushar Mehta assured that there will be adequate security for Chidambaram in the jail.
The court also issued notice to the Enforcement Directorate on Chidambaram�s plea seeking to surrender in the money laundering case lodged by the agency in which the Supreme Court Thursday dismissed his plea against the August 20 order of the Delhi High Court denying him pre-arrest bail.
Chidambaram, 73, was produced before a Delhi court on Thursday after the expiry of his 2-day CBI custody in the case.
His 15-day CBI custody, ordered by the special court in five spells, which started after his arrest on August 21 night, ends today.
His counsel opposed the CBI plea for judicial custody, which will take him to Tihar jail, and said that the veteran Congress leader was ready to go into the ED custody for interrogation in the money laundering case arising out of the scam in which the apex court Thursday refused to grant him pre-arrest bail.
Chidambaram was brought to the special court hours after he withdrew his petition challenging the non-bailable warrant issued against him following which he was sent to the CBI custody. � PTI
