After almost 100 days of his lock-up in Tihar Jail, senior Congress leader and former Finance Minister P Chidambaram walked out with the Supreme Court granting him bail on Wednesday. With the case lodged by the Enforcement Directorate(ED) over money laundering in INX Media, Chidambaram was arrested with under dramatic circumstances on August 21. The apex court on Wednesday granted bail to the senior leader on a bond of Rs 2 lakh with two sureties each. A bench of justices R Banumathi, AS Bopanna and Hrishikesh Roy pronounced the verdict which also asked Chidambaram not to leave the country without permission. While senior advocates Kapil Sibal and A M Singhvi who represented Chidambaram countered Mr Mehta’s submissions that here was chance that the accused might influence the witnesses or tampered with any evidence, the apex court deputed the bail plea with conditions. The Supreme Court also directed the Registry to accept three sets of sealed covers from the ED and keep them in safe custody for the perusal of the court.
