No prejudice to Chidambaram if bail hearing deferred: CBI

SC was informed by CBI that no prejudice will be caused to former Finance Minister P. Chidambaram if his bail plea will be heard on Friday as he had been arrested by the Enforcement Directorate in separate INX Media money laundering case. Chidambaram was arrested on August 21, and he is currently lodged in the Tihar jail, under judicial custody, till October 17 in the case.

New Delhi:The Central Bureau of Investigation told the Supreme Court that no prejudice will be caused to former Finance Minister P. Chidambaram if his bail plea will be heard on Friday as he had been arrested by the Enforcement Directorate in separate INX Media money laundering case.

Appearing for CBI, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta told a bench headed by Justice R. Banumathi that he has taken five minutes break from the Constitution bench to come to this court.

Apologising to the court, he said that he is before the constitution bench and requested to defer Chidambaram's bail hearing in the INX Media case for Friday.

"No prejudice would be caused to the other side as he (Chidambaram) has been arrested by the Enforcement Directorate today," Mehta said.

"Is this a matter which cannot wait for even a day?" he said, arguing that there is no "exceptional circumstance" in the former minister's plea seeking bail in the case for the court to hear it during the lunch break.

Initially, the court agreed to hear it during the recess at 1.30 p.m. on Thursday but on Mehta's insisting, deferred it for Friday.

Chidambaram was arrested on August 21, and he is currently lodged in the Tihar jail, under judicial custody, till October 17 in the case.