Former finance minister P Chidambaram’s age, illness and fact that he was not a ‘flight risk,’ meaning would not fly away from the country, are the key reasons for the Supreme Court to grant him bail.
Read: P Chidambaram gets bail in INX Media case
After more than 100 days in custody in a bribery case, Chidambaram was granted bail by Supreme Court judges R Bhanumati, S A Bopanna, Hrishikesh Roy. The court further observed that ‘there is no possibility of (Chidambaram) tampering the evidence or intimidating the witness.
“The appellant (Chidambaram) is aged about 74 years and as noted by the High Court itself in its order, the appellant has already suffered two bouts of illness during incarceration and was put on antibiotics and has been advised to take steroids of maximum strength. In that circumstance, the availability of the appellant for further investigation, interrogation and facing trial is not jeopardised and he is already held to be Page 35 of 37 not a ‘flight risk’ and there is no possibility of tampering the evidence or influencing\intimidating the witnesses. Taking these and all other facts and circumstances including the duration of custody into consideration the appellant in our considered view is entitled to be granted bail,” the SC order said.
The Supreme Court order Chidambaram’s passport to be deposited and asked him to be make himself available for interrogation in the course of further investigation.
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