INDIA’s EX-Home& FM Minster Chidambaram Sent to Jail in INX Media Money Laundering Case

P Chidambaram, India’s one of the high profile  politicians and  ex-Home and Finance  Minister  during UPA regime, has been  sentenced to 14-day judicial  custody by a  Special CBI  Court for his alleged involvement in the multi –crore  INX Media  Case. The court ordered his confinement for two weeks on Thursday in Delhi’s TiharJail rejecting his passionate plea to order him to be kept in the Enforcement Directorate’s custody instead of confining him in the Tihar Jail. Indrani Mukherjea, then CEO of the media house, has turned approver and alleged that at the instance of then Finance Minister he had met and paid to his son Karti to felicitate flow of foreign exchange. Chidambaram, 73, who is a siting Member of the Rajya Sabha, was represented by senior, Kapil Sibal. He had   requested the CBI to give him special facilities since he is a protected under Z-level security. These facilities will include a separate cell, a cot, a western-style toilet, and medicines. However, apart from these facilities, he will be treated like any other inmate. Sandeep Goyal, director-general of prisons, said “A jail is a jail. We only follow the court’s orders. No one lodged in jail is special to us,”he told IANS . Chidambaram spent his first night on Thursday at the Tihar prison’s Jail No. 7.He started his day with a light breakfast on Friday. The Congress leader was brought to the jail on Thursday evening and he has got no special facilities, except a separate cell and a Western toilet as specified by the court, prison officials said. Like other inmates, he will also have access to the prison’s library and can watch television for a specified period. Chidambaram had a light breakfast and on Thursday night, he had rotis, dal, sabji and rice, as per the prion’s menu, sources said. After the mandatory medical check-up, Chidambaram was lodged in Jail No. 7 which usually houses those accused in Enforcement Directorate cases. Incidentally, his son Karti was also lodged in this cell for 12 days in the same case last year. The cell was prepared in advance, with the jail authorities anticipating that the senior Congress leader might turn up in view of the ongoing court cases against him, the officials said.Ratul Puri, nephew of Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Kamal Nath, who is being probed by the ED in connection with the AgustaWestland and a bank fraud case, is also lodged in this jail. The veteran Congress leader was brought to Asia’s largest prison from the Rouse Avenue Court amid high security. It took nearly 35 minutes for the jail authorities to bring Chidambaram to the prison from the court. The court allowed him to carry his spectacles, prescribed medicines to the jail and directed that he be kept in a separate cell in the Tihar prison as he is a protectee under Z-security. He will also have to spend his birthday, on September 16, locked up as it falls under the 14-day confinement. The veteran Congress leader was brought to Asia’s largest prison from the Rouse Avenue Court amid high security. Meanwhile, some lawyers associated with the case are of the view that the future course of action will be decided after going through the apex court’s judgment by which Chidambaram failed to get relief in the money laundering case.