The Supreme Court on Friday granted interim protection until Aug 26 to former union minister P Chidambaram in the case filed by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) but he will continue to stay in CBI custody till August 26 and his petition against it will be heard only on Monday.

But in a setback for the ED, the apex court recorded that the former minister has always been on bail and he has been cooperating with the probe. As the SC started hearing, Chidambaram’s counsel Kapil Sibal told the court that the Delhi High Court Order was copy pasted from ED Notes.  “If a court starts cut, copy and paste of a note damming me, what chances can I have to get relief? And this too, after reserving judgment for seven months,” said Sibal.

The hearings saw Solicitor General Tushar Mehta and Chidambaram’s lawyers getting into a heated argument towards the end of the proceedings. While Mehta sought to hand over certain documents, Sibal called them fabricated and decried the practice of tendering papers like this.

Mehta said, “Hue and cry is being made… Political vendetta is being raised but I will show evidence to show why we need custodial interrogation. We have electronic evidence, emails exchanges to trace route of illicit, illegal transfer or money.”

Mehta also told the court that Shell companies were created by those having close connection with Chidambaram and the money was laundered through these companies.

—India Legal Bureau