EC defends integrity of EVMs in SC, asserts it can’t be manipulated
The Election Commission of India (ECI) defended the integrity of the electronic voting system, asserting that it was not prone to any external interference or manipulations.
A special CBI court on Thursday ruled that former Union Minister P Chidambaram will go to Tihar jail in connection with the INX Media case.
Accepting the CBI’s argument that he should be sent to judicial custody, the CBI court said that Chidambaram will remain in judicial custody till September 19 even as the 74-year-old leader has already spent 15 days in CBI custody after he was arrested by the CBI on the night of 21 August.
Earlier in the day, the Supreme Court had rejected P Chidambaram’s appeal against the Delhi High Court’s order rejecting his anticipatory bail plea in a case being probed by Enforcement Directorate (ED) in INX Media case.
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Rejecting Chidambaram’s plea, the apex court said that “granting anticipatory bail at the initial stage may frustrate the investigation”, adding that it is “not a case fit to grant pre-arrest bail”.
“Economic offences stand at a different footing and they have to be dealt with a different approach,” the court had observed.
The INX Media case relates to alleged irregularities in Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) clearance given to the media group for foreign investment to the tune of Rs 305 crore in 2007 when Chidambaram was the finance minister.
Chidambaram and his son Karti were named by Peter and Indrani Mukerjea, who owned INX Media at the time and are currently in jail in connection with the murder of Indrani Mukerjea’s daughter Sheena Bora.
The ED, in September 2017, had attached assets worth Rs 1.16 crore of Karti who is under probe for allegedly receiving kickbacks in lieu of the FIPB clearance.
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