Supreme Court grants Chidambaram bail but with conditions, Congress says 'truth finally prevails'

Chidambaram, who has spent 106 days behind the bars, has however been granted the bail with certain conditions.

The former Finance Minister will have to surrender his passport, he can't tamper with evidences and talk to media persons or witnesses, media reports said.

A three-judge bench- comprising Justices R Banumathi, A S Bopanna and Hrishikesh Roy- has also slammed the Delhi High Court, which had earlier rejected Chidambaram's bail plea, for drawing "observations" from "merits".

Chidambaram was first arrested by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Aug 21 for allegedly committing corruption by facilitating a huge flow of foreign funds to INX media when he was the Finance Minister. 

Though he was granted bail by the Supreme Court on Oct 22, Chidambaram was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate in connection with the same case on 16th of the same month.

Welcoming the verdict, Chidambaram's lawyer and Congress leader Abhishek Singhvi said, "The Supreme Court has delivered a balanced, comprehensive judgement taking every significant facets of the case into consideration.... Gravity of the case has been underlined."

"It is a blow in favour of the human rights," the Congress MP said.

In its first reaction, Congress has put up a tweet saying, " Truth finally prevails."

Congress Lok Sabha MP and P Chidambaram's son Karti tweeted, "Phew. At last after 106 days :)"

Taking a jibe at the Congress, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Sambit Patra said, "So finally Chidambaram too joins the long list of “OOBC(Out On Bail Club)” in the Congress ..He joins the coveted Club,some members of which are: 1)Sonia Gandhi 2)Rahul Gandhi 3)Robert Vadra 4)Motilal Vohra 5)Bhupinder Hooda 6)Sashi Tharoor Etc Etc"

(Image Credit: PIB Archive)