New Delhi: Former Finance Minister and senior Congress leader P. Chidambaram, released from the Tihar jail, here on Wednesday, after granted bail by the Supreme Court, said there was not a “single charge framed against me” in the last 106 days.
After stepping out of the jail, Chidambaram said, “I can’t comment on the case. I am going to obey the Supreme Court order.”
“But the fact is in the 106 days of pre-trail incarceration not a single charge was framed against me. I will speak all about that tomorrow (Thursday),” the senior Congress leader said.
Chidambaram came out of the Tihar jail around 8 p.m. after the jail authorities received the court orders.
He was received by his son and Lok Sabha member Karti Chidambaram outside the jail premises. Besides his son, hundreds of Congress activists welcomed the former Finance Minister and raised slogans in his favour.
After the release, Chidambaram along with his son drove straight to Congress interim president Sonia Gandhi’s residence, while several Congress workers gathered outside his residence in the Jor Bagh area to welcome him. Some Congress activists were also spotted playing guitar and singing ‘Nyay do, nyay do’ (Deliver justice) outside his residence.
While in jail, Chidambaram was visited by the top Congress brass, including Sonia Gandhi and former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, former party chief Rahul Gandhi and his sister and party General Secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra.
Chidambaram was arrested on August 21 from his residence by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in connection with a probe into granting of the Foreign Exchange Promotion Board (FIPB) approval to the INX Media, now known as 9X News, when he was Finance Minister.
He was sent to the judicial custody on September 5. On October 16, while in judicial custody at Tihar Jail, he was arrested under sections of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) by the Enforcement Directorate (ED). Since October 17, Chidambaram was remanded to the ED custody till October 30.
Earlier in the day, Chidambaram was granted bail by the Supreme Court.
While granting the bail, the apex court said even if the allegation was related grave economic offence, it was not a rule that bail should be denied in every case since there was no such bar created in the relevant enactment passed by the legislature nor did the bail jurisprudence provided so.
