NEW DELHI: Senior Congress leader and former Finance Minister P Chidambaram, who has been eluding the CBI and ED, on Wednesday evening dramatically surfaced at the Congress headquarters.
He appeared at the party headquarters, hours after his petition challenging the Delhi High Court rejection of anticipatory bail was not listed in the Supreme Court.
While addressing the media he said that he has been wrongly accused of hiding from law. "I was aghast that I was accused of hiding from the law. On the contrary, I was seeking the protection of the law. I was accused of running away from justice. On the contrary, I was engaged in the pursuit of justice," Chidambaram told reporters.
"I have not been accused of any wrongdoing in INX media case," he added.
After his presser, a team of CBI officials rushed to his house and scaled the walls to enter the building. Meanwhile, another team of at least 15 CBI officers have reached Chidambaram's house.
In the morning, a Supreme Court bench headed by Justice N.V. Ramana refused to grant interim relief from arrest to Chidambaram and referred his plea for an anticipatory bail in the INX media case to Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi for urgent hearing.
Chidambaram has challenged the Delhi High Court order which rejected his anticipatory bail plea on Tuesday.
On January 25, the Delhi High Court reserved order on Chidambaram's bail plea in the case being probed by the Enforcement Directorate and the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).
The agencies had opposed Chidambaram's bail plea, saying his custodial interrogation was necessary as he was evasive and had given false information during questioning.
The ED and the CBI are probing how his son Karti Chidambaram got clearance from the Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) in 2007 when Chidambaram was the Finance Minister.
Karti Chidambaram was arrested on February 28, 2018 by the CBI for allegedly accepting money to facilitate the FIPB clearance to INX Media. He was later granted bail. His chartered accountant S. Bhaskararaman was also arrested and released on bail.